The Pentagon is preparing for a war so destructive that American domestic military bases could lose electricity, water, communications, and essential supplies for months. Under America’s self-proclaimed “peace president,” the solution is FORTRESS America, a nationwide network of self-sufficient military strongholds designed to keep Washington’s war machine running through a national catastrophe.
As Washington’s foreign wars increasingly bring militarization home, the urgent questions arise: What threats justify turning America into a military bastion? Who exactly is being protected, and from whom? And when everyday Americans find themselves outside the fortress walls, what type of order awaits them?
Preparing for the Worst
FORTRESS America would require major military installations across the continental United States to sustain essential operations for at least 90 days without outside support.
According to an investigation published Sunday by Fox News, the Pentagon is preparing for scenarios involving widespread infrastructure failures, disrupted global supply chains, and attacks on American soil.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the initiative on September 30 during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
FORTRESS stands for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability.
Hegseth warned that America’s military had become dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers for rare earths, microchips, and weapons. Another “regrettable” dependency, he said, was civilian infrastructure, particularly the electrical grids serving military bases.
He then outlined the scale of the preparations, offering a stark assessment of what a major war would entail:
We are building long overdue strategic reserves deep enough to fight through disruption. Think munitions. Fuel. Medicine. Blood. Deep enough that if the world’s supply lines break, and in a real war, they are going to break, America keeps fighting anyway.
He also pledged to harden installations against cyberattacks, sabotage, and drones while protecting satellite communications and navigation systems.
Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell reinforced the warning, telling Fox News:
Power is combat now. Without electricity, you lose communications, water, logistics, assembly lines and just basic military command structures.
The Islands of Survival
At the heart of FORTRESS is a plan to equip military bases with independent power sources, including portable nuclear reactors, large battery systems, and electrical microgrids.
These technologies would allow installations to keep operating during prolonged blackouts without drawing electricity from surrounding communities.
Every major military installation in America is going to generate its own power. Independent of the civilian grid.
The Pentagon is building on existing projects. The Air Force has already explored nuclear microreactors and advanced microgrids, including at installations in Alaska.
According to an October 20 report by Air & Space Forces Magazine, officials are evaluating installations to identify their energy requirements and suitable technologies.
The program also envisions on-site water treatment and storage, protected communications, and emergency backup systems.
However, much of FORTRESS remains in the planning stages. The Pentagon must determine which technologies to deploy, how quickly installations can adopt them, and how much the transformation will cost. Some projects could take years to complete.
The Pentagon is also planning an entirely new military installation, dubbed the “Next Great American Base.” Announced alongside FORTRESS, the proposed complex would accommodate 15,000 to 25,000 troops across hundreds of thousands of acres, with independent power generation, advanced air defenses, and sophisticated command facilities.
Hegseth described it as a “self-sustaining power projection platform” and invited governors to compete for the project. Its location, cost, and construction timeline remain undetermined.
The intended result is a military infrastructure capable of continuing operations even as civilian communities around it lose essential services.
(Notably, the Pentagon’s concerns about reliance on the civilian power grid come as energy-hungry data centers place growing strain on it, while opposition to their expansion is increasingly framed as “anti-tech extremism.”)