The Pentagon is turning its push to make domestic bases, power supplies and supply chains survive an attack into a standing office with a named leader, and companies that build, power, secure and supply those installations now have a specific acquisition shop to watch. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey on Tuesday "initiated the process to set up the new FORTRESS America Program Office," DefenseScoop reported, citing an implementation directive dated Oct. 6 that the outlet obtained on Wednesday.
The directive follows a Sept. 30 Department of War memorandum that launched FORTRESS America, short for Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply and Survivability. That memo made the program effective immediately and gave the acquisition and sustainment under secretary 30 days to establish a program office reporting directly to that official, according to Defence Industry Europe.
Who Runs the FORTRESS America Program Office?
Duffey named Richard "Matt" O'Malley as interim director. "To organize stakeholder direct support, I am designating Mr. Richard "Matt" O'Malley as the Interim Director, FORTRESS America Program Office," Duffey wrote in the directive. "The Interim Director will oversee strategic milestone tracking and serve as the principal integrator among all stakeholders as we develop the implementation plan for FORTRESS America."
A two-star military advisor will be appointed to assist O'Malley, Duffey indicated. President Donald Trump nominated O'Malley earlier this year to serve as deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, but the Senate has not confirmed him, DefenseScoop reported.
The Sept. 30 memorandum sketched the office's shape. A member of the Senior Executive Service will lead day-to-day operations with the help of the two-star advisor, and the office will start with a small core staff and expand to full operating capability within months, Defence Industry Europe reported. The memo calls for "results in weeks, not years" and for a permanent structure to carry out the program's homeland defense mission. It also designates FORTRESS America a priority and directs all military departments, defense agencies and field activities to support it.
Eight Offices Ordered to Name Points of Contact by Wednesday
Duffey sent his implementation instructions to eight officials: the secretary of the Air Force; the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness; the assistant secretaries of defense for sustainment, for industrial base policy, and for energy, installations and environment; the Pentagon's chief information officer; the director of administration and management; and the comptroller.
Each had to designate one "Senior Executive" representative and one action officer "authorized to coordinate directly" with O'Malley, and share those contacts with the program office, no later than Wednesday, according to DefenseScoop. The recipients span installations and energy, the industrial base, sustainment, information technology and the comptroller's office, which suggests how broad the program's reach is meant to be.
Five Pillars, From Base Microgrids to a Strategic Defense Reserve
Duffey's memo directs the program office to concentrate on "selective implementation efforts" across five pillars set out in the earlier directive. Defence Industry Europe lists them as energy independence; supply-chain and defense-industrial base resilience; a strategic defense reserve; installation hardening and cyber resilience; and resilience in space and spectrum.
The September memorandum ties the effort to the Future Year Defense Program and requires basing and infrastructure projects to contribute collectively to greater independence, with work coordinated across every military installation, according to Defence Industry Europe. It describes the program as the "nation's insurance policy."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previewed the most concrete target in his State of the Force address on Sept. 30. "Every major military installation in America is going to generate its own power, independent of the civilian grid," Hegseth said, as quoted by DefenseScoop. "If an adversary takes down the grid — by cyberattack, by sabotage, or by any means — our bases stay lit."
Hegseth added that the department will be "hardening every installation on American soil against cyber intrusions, sabotage and drones," and said the effort would extend to securing the airwaves, satellites and spectrum the military relies on to see, navigate and communicate. "We're bringing our critical supply chains home," he said.
What the Directive Leaves Out: Money and Projects
For all its urgency, the directive does not attach a price tag. It "provides no funding total or list of individual projects," Defence Industry Europe reported, and it names a strategic defense reserve as one of the five pillars without specifying the reserve's contents, size or implementation timetable.
That leaves the program office's first job as building the implementation plan Duffey referenced, with O'Malley tracking milestones and coordinating across the eight offices that received the directive. Until that plan surfaces, the scope of any procurement under the FORTRESS banner remains undefined in the public record.
What It Means for Contractors
FORTRESS America places installation energy, base security, cyber resilience, space and spectrum protection, and domestic supply chains under a single acquisition-and-sustainment program office. For contractors, that means one integrator, O'Malley's office, is charged with tracking milestones and coordinating across the offices that cover installations, energy, the industrial base and IT.
Several signals stand out for companies in these markets:
- Installation energy: Hegseth's goal that every major installation generate its own power independent of the civilian grid points to on-base power generation as a headline requirement, though no project list or funding level has been published.
- Base hardening and counter-drone: The pledge to harden installations against "cyber intrusions, sabotage and drones" puts physical security, cyber defense and drone defense at domestic bases inside the program's scope.
- Industrial base and reshoring: With the assistant secretary for industrial base policy among the eight recipients and supply-chain resilience named as a pillar, securing domestic and allied supply lines is part of the program's agenda, and Hegseth said the department is "bringing our critical supply chains home."
- Strategic defense reserve: The reserve is a named pillar, but its contents and size are unspecified, so suppliers cannot yet tell what it will stockpile.
The practical step now is tracking the program office's implementation plan and the Senior Executive representatives the eight offices were told to designate, since those officials will coordinate directly with O'Malley as requirements take shape.
