Kevin Cirilli sits down with Dan Brouillette at the National Press Club for a wide-ranging, urgent conversation about the future of American energy — and the global race to power artificial intelligence. Brouillette lays out the stakes in plain terms: energy is now national security. Whoever builds power fastest will lead in AI, robotics, data centers, and advanced manufacturing — and China is not waiting. He explains why America’s permitting system has become a strategic liability, why data centers are the new industrial foundries, and why the U.S. grid is under growing strain just as demand goes vertical.

Kevin and Brouillette also explore where optimism still lives — from LNG as a geopolitical tool that supports allies, to a long-term vision of fusion energy that could one day make today’s energy debates obsolete. But the warning is clear: getting to that future requires winning the next 20 years, not the next 200.

This episode is a frontline briefing on the energy battle shaping the future of AI, economic power, and global leadership — and why the clock is already ticking.