The Pentagon is moving forward with an ambitious homeland-defense initiative designed to keep major U.S. military installations operating for at least 90 days without outside support if war, cyberattacks or sabotage cripple the civilian infrastructure on which bases normally depend.
Known as FORTRESS America, the initiative calls for major installations in the continental United States to sustain essential operations independently for at least three months, including electricity, water, fuel and communications.
The program represents a significant shift in Pentagon planning by preparing American bases not only to support conflicts overseas but also to withstand potentially severe infrastructure disruptions inside the United States.
FORTRESS stands for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply and Survivability, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally unveiled the initiative during his Sept. 30 “State of the Force” address at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said relying on conventional civilian infrastructure for national defense presents an unacceptable vulnerability because an adversary could potentially disrupt the electrical grid, communications networks or other critical systems during a major conflict.
“We don’t want to rely on standard civilian municipal infrastructure to run our national defense,” Parnell told Fox News Digital, calling that dependence an “intolerable risk.” Electricity is one of the Pentagon’s biggest concerns because virtually every modern military capability depends on reliable power, from communications and command centers to logistics operations and weapons production.
Under FORTRESS America, the Pentagon intends for major military installations to eventually generate their own electricity rather than depending entirely on the civilian grid.
The Pentagon is examining technologies including portable nuclear reactors, large-scale battery storage and microgrids capable of separating installations from civilian electrical systems during prolonged outages. “Mission-critical power must be independent, hardened, and redundant,” Parnell said.
The initiative extends well beyond electricity, however, as military planners prepare for disruptions that could affect fuel, water, communications, medical supplies, weapons production and the global supply chains necessary to sustain American forces.
FORTRESS America calls for strategic reserves of munitions, fuel, critical minerals, electronics, spare parts, medicine and other essential materials that could be tapped if international supply routes or domestic production were interrupted.
The Pentagon also wants at least two qualified supply or production pathways for its most critical defense dependencies, reducing the possibility that the loss of one factory or supplier could cripple an important military capability.
Another part of the strategy focuses on rebuilding critical supply chains inside the United States, including production involving rare earth elements, specialty metals, semiconductors and propellants.
Hegseth described the broader program as a “national insurance policy” intended to address decades of military dependence on foreign suppliers and vulnerable civilian infrastructure.
The Pentagon is also preparing civilian manufacturers to shift toward defense production during a crisis through the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network, which is being incorporated into the broader FORTRESS strategy.
Rather than identifying factories only after a conflict begins, defense officials intend to assess commercial manufacturers beforehand and establish technical specifications, cybersecurity requirements, contracting arrangements and procedures for converting production.
Recurring industrial stress tests and mobilization exercises are also planned to determine whether manufacturers could maintain production during a prolonged emergency. The strategy reflects Pentagon concerns that a future major conflict could unfold simultaneously across several regions while adversaries attempt to disrupt American infrastructure at home through cyberattacks, sabotage, attacks on supply chains or other means.
Parnell said previous U.S. defense planning benefited from an assumption that the Atlantic and Pacific oceans provided substantial protection to the homeland, but he argued that emerging weapons and cyber capabilities have fundamentally changed that calculation.
FORTRESS America consequently includes installation hardening against cyber intrusions, sabotage and drones while also seeking greater resilience for satellites, communications spectrum, navigation systems and other capabilities necessary to maintain military operations.
The Pentagon has already begun establishing a dedicated FORTRESS America Program Office, with acquisition chief Michael Duffey directing senior officials in October to begin turning Hegseth’s initiative into an operational program. Richard “Matt” O’Malley was designated interim director of the program office as officials began coordinating implementation across multiple parts of the Defense Department.
The Pentagon is assessing energy requirements and costs across roughly 500 installations in the continental United States, although officials have not announced a department-wide deadline for completing the infrastructure necessary to meet the new resilience goals.
