For months, we have been reporting on Europe’s preparations for emergency scenarios, including the possibility of military conflict and disruptions to essential services. Now the Pentagon has unveiled its own effort to prepare America for a crisis that could knock out power, cripple supply chains and threaten military operations on U.S. soil.
The plan is called FORTRESS America. Much of it sounds like prudent preparation: keep bases supplied, secure backup power and make sure factories can produce what the military needs. But the scale raises a harder question. Why is the Pentagon planning for American military installations to survive for 90 days without outside support? Is this simply responsible planning—or a sign that military leaders see a level of danger the public has not fully grasped?
A military that can keep fighting
According to documents reviewed by Fox News, major military bases in the continental United States would be expected to maintain essential operations for at least 90 days without relying on civilian infrastructure. That means having dependable access to electricity, water, fuel and communications even if the systems around them fail.
The Pentagon’s concern is that a major conflict could reach beyond distant battlefields. A power grid could be attacked or sabotaged. Communications could be disrupted. Transportation and supply networks could seize up. Bases that depend on the same civilian systems as nearby communities could find themselves unable to operate when the military needs them most.
“We don’t want to rely on standard civilian municipal infrastructure to run our national defense,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told Fox News. “We just simply can’t. It’s an intolerable risk.”
That is more than a backup generator. FORTRESS America envisions independent power systems, large batteries and potentially portable nuclear reactors. The plan also calls for stronger supply chains and stockpiles of items such as ammunition, fuel, spare parts, electronics and medical supplies.
The Pentagon is also looking beyond its own facilities. Through the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network, commercial factories could be identified and prepared to shift to defense production during a crisis. The idea is to work out the contracts, technical requirements and conversion procedures before a conflict begins—not while the country is already struggling to keep production moving.
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A lesson from Ukraine
The Russia–Ukraine war has shown how vulnerable essential infrastructure can be to repeated drone and missile attacks. Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy system have caused widespread power outages, while Ukrainian drones have hit Russian refineries and other energy sites, at times disrupting operations.
