The Pentagon Is Building a Fortress. Is Your Household?

by Kevin D. Freeman on October 30, 2026

Headline graphic reading The Pentagon is building a fortress. Is your household? above a fortress wall silhouette with a lit house window

Something unusual happened over the past ten days, and I don’t want it to slip by in the noise of an election season.

In the span of a single week, the British government launched a national campaign telling every household to stock up on supplies. Japan announced it will issue a nationwide “emergency request” asking citizens to stockpile. A former deputy director of the FBI went on his show and pleaded with Americans to do the same. And the Pentagon put a number on how long it expects America’s military bases to survive on their own if the civilian systems around them go dark: 90 days.

Governments rarely tell their own citizens to prepare for trouble. When several do it at once, it’s worth paying attention. Not panicking. Paying attention.

What governments are telling their citizens

On October 22, the United Kingdom launched Be Ready, a three-year campaign asking households to keep at least 72 hours of supplies at home: about three litres of drinking water per person per day, food that doesn’t need cooking or refrigeration, a battery or wind-up radio, a power bank, medicines, and cash. Britain’s Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, named cyber attacks and disruption to essential supplies alongside severe weather, and said the government wants people to be “alert but not alarmed.” (ITV)

Alert is the right word. Two days after the launch, Streeting wrote in the Telegraph that Britain’s adversaries could be in a position to attack by 2030, which gives the country “a little over 1,000 days” to be ready to fight and win alongside its allies. He warned the threat isn’t only tanks at the border, but state-sponsored terrorism, sabotage and hostile acts meant to disrupt daily life. His checklist even includes keeping enough cash at home in case local payment systems go down. (New York Post)

Britain is catching up to the continent. The European Commission told EU citizens last year to keep a 72-hour kit. Sweden’s civil defense guidance asks households to manage on their own for at least a week “in case of crisis or war.” Norway advises about a week as well, and Germany up to ten days. (Newsweek)

Japan will issue its national request on November 2, the same day its new National Disaster Management Agency officially launches. The minimum is three days; the government recommends a week where possible. In fairness, Japan’s concern is natural disaster, not war: a predicted Nankai Trough megaquake, a quake directly under Tokyo, a possible eruption of Mount Fuji. (Insider Paper)

But notice the common thread. Whatever the threat, governments across the developed world are saying the same thing out loud: in the first days of a crisis, you are on your own. The responsibility for initial survival is being handed back to the household.

Here at home, Dan Bongino, who left the FBI’s deputy director post in January, urged his audience to have a plan, emergency food, a radio and batteries, and a way to collect and filter water, and to do it now, for their families. He tied it directly to the Pentagon’s plan: if the military is building “Fortress America,” you have to build “Fortress my house.” (Daily Mail; The Economic Collapse Blog)

What the Pentagon is telling itself

The most important of these reports, in my view, is the one that wasn’t aimed at the public at all.

Fox News Digital reviewed documents on a Pentagon initiative called FORTRESS. Under it, every major military installation in the continental United States would be expected to sustain essential operations independently for at least 90 days, including electricity, water, fuel and communications. The plan envisions portable nuclear reactors, large-scale battery storage and microgrids that can disconnect bases from the civilian grid. It calls for strategic reserves of munitions, fuel, critical minerals, electronics, spare parts and medical supplies; at least two qualified supply or production pathways for the most critical needs; a network of civilian factories that can convert to defense production; and preparations to keep operating when GPS is jammed. (Fox News)

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell, who led the effort, summed it up in simple words: “Power is combat now.” He described relying on civilian municipal infrastructure as an intolerable risk, and said the old assumption that two oceans would protect us is gone.

I agree with every word of that. It is the core of what I have been warning about since my economic-warfare research for the Pentagon in 2008 and 2009. A capable adversary doesn’t need to defeat the U.S. military in the field if it can turn off the grid, freeze the payment system, or break the supply chains that feed both our bases and our grocery stores. What we see as a marketplace, our enemies view as a Battle Space. The Pentagon has now put that in writing.

Bar chart comparing days of self-sufficiency asked for: UK, EU, U.S. Ready.gov and Japan minimum 3 days; Japan recommended, Sweden and Norway about one week; Germany up to 10 days; Economic War Room Battle Plan 106 from 2020, two weeks; Pentagon FORTRESS bases 90 days

Ninety days versus three

Look at that gap. The military has concluded that dependence on civilian infrastructure is an intolerable risk and is planning for a quarter of a year on its own. Citizens are being told three days.

I’m not criticizing the Pentagon. FORTRESS is exactly the right idea, and it is long overdue. But if the people responsible for defending the country believe the civilian grid and supply chain could be down long enough to plan for 90 days, then 72 hours should be treated as the floor for your family, not the goal.

We said this six years ago. In September 2020, in Economic War Room Episode 106, we released a Special Economic Battle Plan built around the Citizen’s Guide for Response written by former NSC Director of Strategic Planning Rich Higgins and his team at Unconstrained Analytics. It recommended a two-week supply for the home, pointing out that the Red Cross itself advised three days for an evacuation and two weeks at home, and that local and regional supply systems are quickly overwhelmed in a crisis. Governments are only now catching up to the first step.

The threat isn’t only from abroad

Preparedness conversations tend to focus on storms, cyber attacks and war. There is a fourth category that the official campaigns rarely mention: civil disorder. And it is happening right now, in two of Europe’s most important countries.

France. Protests over the cost of living turned violent on October 17, with looting and arson in dozens of cities. France’s Interior Ministry reported 2,628 arrests and 1,144 injured security personnel that day. The chambers of commerce counted more than 2,000 vandalized shops, and retailers report sales down roughly 80% as many keep their shutters closed. The government deployed 70,000 police for the following weekend, and the Interior Minister has said plainly that he expects more violence at the protests planned for Halloween, with a nationwide strike called for November 5. (IBTimes; Connexion; Reuters via The Star; France’s Macron promises ‘strong measures’ to assuage protests — Reuters via Radio USA)

That is the pathway I want you to see clearly: economic stress becomes public anger, and public anger becomes street violence. Inflation is not just a number on a CPI report. It is a security threat. And France is not alone: riots and violent protests have also broken out in recent weeks in Rome, Milan, Barcelona and Albania’s capital, Tirana. (Daily Mail)

Poland. As this is written, Poland, long regarded as one of the most stable and conservative nations in Europe, is in the middle of a constitutional crisis. While President Karol Nawrocki was flying to Senegal, a judge elected by the current parliament announced the suspension of the president and vice president of the Constitutional Tribunal, and police were deployed to the court’s grounds. The Tribunal’s leadership denounced it as a “coup d’état” and says the judge isn’t even a lawful member of the court. Opposition leader JarosÅ‚aw KaczyÅ„ski called it a coup. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government says it is restoring the rule of law. President Nawrocki turned his plane around in mid-flight, and police arrested three people who tried to get over the court’s fence as protesters gathered. (WND; Euronews; Anadolu)

Whatever you conclude about who is right in Warsaw, the lesson is the same. When the institutions that decide what is legitimate start fighting over who is legitimate, the streets fill up. And no country is immune, including ours.

Our friends at Intercessors for America have published a special report and prayer guide, The Red Line, on what they believe is planned unrest around the election (IFApray.org). Whatever your view of their conclusions, their counsel for families is sound: stay clear of flashpoints, verify before you share, and be the steadiest people in your town when the noise rises.

Build your own household FORTRESS

The Pentagon’s plan and our 2020 Battle Plan point to the same principles. Here are the starting points:

  • Plan for the capability of two weeks at home. Three days is the floor. Battle Plan #106 calls for a gallon of water per person per day (about 15 gallons each), a way to filter and treat more, and roughly 1,500 calories per person per day of shelf-stable food. Store what you eat, and eat what you store.
  • Two pathways for everything critical. FORTRESS requires at least two qualified supply pathways for critical needs. Battle Plan #106 put it the old way: where there are two, there’s one; where there’s one, there’s none. Have a primary, an alternate and a contingency for water, fire and light.
  • Assume your cell phone won’t work. Keep a hand-crank or solar emergency radio for news, a way to talk to family (a two-way radio or ham), spare batteries and chargers, and important numbers written down on paper.
  • Cash on hand. Small bills, enough for two weeks of essentials. In economic warfare, the payment system is a target.
  • Medicines and first aid. A reserve of required prescriptions and a real first-aid kit.
  • Defense in depth. Think in rings: local law enforcement, your neighborhood, your home, and finally you. Know your neighbors, join or start a neighborhood watch, and make your home a hard target.
  • A bug-out bag and a get-home bag. Each adult needs a bag with three days of essentials in case you must leave, and a smaller bag to get you home if trouble breaks out while you’re at work.
  • Situational awareness. Get information from multiple sources, know your alternate routes home, and stay away from flashpoints when tensions are high.
  • Real money. Gold and silver have been a store of value for thousands of years, outside the banking system. In Texas, they became legal tender on September 1, 2026. This is not advice. I don’t know your situation. But it is something you must consider. Start small, learn quickly, and ramp up when you’re comfortable.

The full checklists, from fire and light to shelter, hygiene, tools and self-defense considerations, are in the Special Economic Battle Plan for Episode 106, Insurrection & Violence: A Citizen’s Guide. It’s free. Register at EconomicWarRoom.com, open the Battle Plans tab, and look for #106.

Free Special Economic Battle Plan number 106, Insurrection and Violence: A Citizen’s Guide, available at EconomicWarRoom.com under the Battle Plans tab

Prepare, don’t panic

None of this is cause for fear. Preparation is the opposite of panic. The family that has water, food, power, cash and a plan is the family that can help a neighbor instead of needing help.

Scripture put it plainly long before any government campaign: “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3, KJV).

Scripture also teaches: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, KJV).

We’ll be taking this subject into the Economic War Room in an upcoming episode. Tune in Thursdays on BlazeTV or through our website, and get your free Battle Plans at EconomicWarRoom.com.

Because what we see as a marketplace, our enemies view as a Battle Space.

—Kevin D. Freeman, D.Sc. (h.c.), CFA

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