This is quite an interesting scoop (underplayed with a bland headline) that John Broder posted last night at the NYT Green blog. Here are the money quotes:
"I failed in one aspect of my job," said General Jones, a former Marine Corps commandant. "I should have advocated much more persuasively for the creation of a senior director in the N.S.C. and a fully staffed directorate to deal with energy as a national security issue, which it is." He said that Carol Browner, who recently left as White House coordinator for energy and climate change policy, did not have the authority or staff she needed to compel action by the executive branch. And the president's attention to the issue was episodic because of constant crises and other priorities, he added. "As a result," General Jones said, "it didn't get the daily attention the president wanted. It was a structural problem that can and should be fixed. I made that recommendation to him when I left."
