What happened
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has announced a new policy requiring all major military installations in the United States to generate their own power, independent of the civilian grid. This move aims to make the US military more resilient and less vulnerable to attacks on the power grid.
Hegseth made the announcement during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, where he criticized past administrations for making the US military dependent on other countries for critical supplies. The new policy, called FORTRESS America, stands for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability.
Currently, US military bases rely on the commercial power grid for 99% of their electricity needs. The new policy seeks to change this by having military bases generate their own power, ensuring that they can continue to operate even if the civilian grid is compromised. Hegseth also announced plans to bring critical supply chains back to the US and build strategic reserves to allow the military to continue fighting even if global supply lines are disrupted.
The War Department views this new policy as a way to reverse the dependence of past administrations and make the Pentagon an insurance policy for the whole country. Hegseth emphasized that the goal is to make the US military impenetrable to attackers and ensure that the country cannot be starved out, shut down, or cut off.
