Gal Luft

Last year, Dr Gal Luft moderated at IAGS' debut roundtable under the Singapore International Energy Week, titled "Technology and Rare Earth Metals for Clean Energy Roundtable". Returning to SIEW 2012, he will be focusing on the most optimal uses of natural gas in the Asian transportation sector. Dr Luft specialises in strategy, geopolitics, energy security, energy technologies and natural resources, and is also an adviser to the United States Energy Security Council.

Dr Luft is co-Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), a Washington-based think tank focused on energy security. He is an adviser to the United States Energy Security Council and co-Founder of the Set America Free Coalition, an alliance of national security, environmental, labour and religious groups promoting ways to reduce America's dependence on oil. He specialises in strategy, geopolitics, energy security, energy technologies and natural resources. Newsweek Magazine called him a "tireless and independent advocate of energy security". The business magazine Poder called him "one of the most recognizable figures in modern energy and security issues", and Esquire Magazine included him in its 2007 list of America's Best and Brightest.

Dr. Luft has published numerous studies and articles on security and energy issues in various newspapers and publications such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The American Interest, Commentary Magazine, Middle East Quarterly, LA Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He is co-Author of Energy Security Challenges for the 21st Century (2009) and Turning Oil into Salt: Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice (2009.) He is also Author of Beer, Bacon and Bullets: Culture in Coalition Warfare from Gallipoli to Iraq. His latest book is Petropoly: The Collapse of America's Energy Security Paradigm (2012).

Dr Luft appears frequently in the media and consults to various think tanks and news organisations worldwide. He testified before committees of the US Congress, including Senate Foreign Relations, House International Relations, House Science and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He holds degrees in international relations, international economics and strategic studies and a doctorate in strategic studies from the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS,) Johns Hopkins University.