In this article it is pointed out that the issue of the scarcity of strategic natural resources has shaped the policy of national security and defense of the United States since World War II onwards. It also analyzes how this issue of scarcity of resources acquired a new and larger dimension for US security through the development of the environmental debate among its elites, which eventually translated into that resource scarcity became a component variable of the Global environmental crisis, which also came to be seen as a serious threat to its security, incorporating the theme of preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity, among other aspects, in the category of new strategic natural resources. Finally, we note the enormous importance and danger that this strategic perspective of the US has for Latin America, particularly in the present 21st century.