INSTALLATION RESILIENCE CASE STUDY

As a nation we are facing new external threats from our adversaries and traditional threats from the natural environment. The 2018 National Defense Strategy clearly stated that the Homeland is no longer a sanctuary. Recent, unclassified statements from key officials sound alarms about the accuracy of that strategy statement:

“If Beijing feared that a major conflict with the United States were imminent, it almost certainly would consider undertaking aggressive cyber operations against U.S. homeland critical infrastructure and military assets worldwide. Such a strike would be designed to deter U.S. military action by impeding U.S. decision making, inducing societal panic, and interfering with the deployment of U.S. Forces…” – Office of the Director of National Intelligence Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, February 6, 2023

“PRC [People's Republic of China] hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure—our water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems.” – Christopher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, speaking to the U.S. House of Representatives on January 31, 2024

Additionally, climate and other natural events that threaten mission operations are becoming more frequent, and more severe, including Hurricane Michael in 2018 (Tyndall AFB, FL); 2019 earthquake in California (NAWS China Lake, CA); 2021 California wildfires; and atmospheric rivers, the weather phenomenon that involves concentrated corridors of tropical moisture that travel through the atmosphere and unleash heavy rain and snow when they make landfall (all California military installations). 

80% of the infrastructure that the Department of Defense (DoD) identifies as “Defense Critical Infrastructure” is owned and operated by state, local, and private utilities, and agencies. Many of the pieces of critical infrastructure that are being targeted are in, and often owned by, local governments. Additionally, the “people infrastructure” of our military bases, including civilian government employees, contract employees, and 70%-80% of the uniformed service members, live in our communities. We need to rethink the priority role that state/local governments and utilities play in the mission capability/mission assurance of the military bases and their surrounding communities. 

First, understand the local issues. “We don’t know what we don’t know” is a common phrase from Mr. Patrick O’Brien, Executive Director, DoD Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC). A few communities are accomplishing this through a series of studies, funded by OLDCC’s Military Installation Resilience Review (MIRR) Grant Program, including Fairfield, CA/Travis AFB; Lompoc, CA/Travis AFB; El Paso Water Utilities/Fort Bliss, TX; Alamo Area Council of Governments/Joint Base San Antonio, TX; and Altus, OK/Altus AFB. 

Next, identify the top priorities for mission assurance on the installations, and infrastructure resilience for the communities, and work to address them systematically. Local governments that have completed an initial resilience study are moving on with design of high-priority projects, also funded by OLDCC or by state funding, include: 

El Paso Water Utilities/Fort Bliss, TX

• Renovation of a critical wastewater lift station conveying 100% of the wastewater of Fort Bliss – service redundancy and capacity to expand missions.
• Increased capacity and reliability of a pump station enabling expansion of potable water service to McGregor Range – improved mission assurance and capacity to expand missions.

City of Vallejo, CA/Travis AFB

• Renovating pumping station to provide redundant water supply from a more sustainable source.

Once a community has a “shovel-ready” project, they are able to seek construction funding through OLDCC’s Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP,) Infrastructure Bill programs, or specialized programs from Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, other federal agencies, and state programs. Communities can forge closer ties with their installations through Intergovernmental Support Agreements (IGSA):

• IGSA can be an enabling mechanism for investing in installation resilience.
• Lowering the cost of business for the installation makes it more competitive for mission growth and job creation.
• The bonus aspect is that the community is reimbursed for all direct and indirect costs, plus associated fee – this supports local budget flexibility in a time of shrinking revenue.