The Liberty Daily 
(The Epoch Times)—The Pentagon is planning for its major military installations across the United States to be able to operate off-grid for at least 90 days without relying on civilian power grids, external fuel, or water supplies, its chief spokesman confirmed on Sunday.
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed reporting on the issue published by Fox News Digital on Oct. 25.
“FORTRESS is strategic deterrence in action, ensuring our defenses are hardened, proactive, and ready,” said Parnell while sharing the article in an Oct. 25 post on X.
FORTRESS stands for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability.
Parnell said he created FORTRESS America “because we can no longer rely on two oceans to protect us.”
“That outdated assumption no longer reflects the threats we face,” he said.
“President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Pete] Hegseth understand this and have already paved the way with Golden Dome and a renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere, including Greenland and Panama,” he said. “All of it reflects a fundamental shift in how we defend America. War has evolved, the threats have evolved, and our defenses must evolve with them.”
According to the Fox report, the 90-day standard includes access to electricity, water, fuel, communications, and other essential services needed to sustain military operations.
It said the strategy is anticipating major disruptions to the global supply chains that supply the military with weapons, equipment, and critical materials and involves preparing America’s civilian manufacturing sector to support a wartime mobilization.
“We don’t want to rely on standard civilian municipal infrastructure to run our national defense. We just simply can’t. It’s an intolerable risk,” Parnell told Fox News.
“Power is combat now. Without electricity, you lose communications, water, logistics, assembly lines and just basic military command structures,” he said.
The launch of FORTRESS was announced on Sept. 30 by Hegseth during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico.
In that speech, Hegseth said he was making key U.S. military installations and other critical supplies and infrastructure more resilient to disruption.
“We are building long-overdue strategic reserves, deep enough to fight through disruption,” he said. “We’re hardening every installation on American soil against cyber intrusion, sabotage, and drones.”
The military has already taken steps to develop small nuclear reactors to generate power at military bases independent of local energy grids.
UK Preparing for War, Catastrophe
Across the Atlantic, the British are also ramping up efforts to get their population prepared for conflict or catastrophe.
British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said the country must be ready for war in 1,000 days, after the government advised citizens to stock up on essential supplies.
Writing in the Telegraph over the weekend, Streeting warned that the UK’s enemies could be ready to launch an attack on the UK by 2030.
“Our adversaries’ willingness to harm us is not new,” he wrote. “What has changed is their capacity. By 2030, their force strength and war economy could put them in a position to attack.
“That gives us a little over 1,000 days to complete our mission: to be ready with our allies to fight and win.”
Streeting said the danger may not come through conventional military action, warning that hybrid war tactics—such as disrupting technology or disinformation campaigns—also pose a threat.
All Brits are also being urged to stock nine liters of bottled water and three days’ worth of food to ensure that they can survive in the event of a weather, cyber, or other critical emergency.
Parents with babies are advised to keep a supply of essential products, while all households are urged to have blankets, cash, a first-aid kit, a flashlight with batteries, and a wind-up FM radio.
Rachel Roberts and Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.
