October 2025
Dissolving the fence: Improving utility privatization for defense installations’ resiliency Written by Benjamin Byboth, Ariel Coreth, and Travis Nels US military installations’ electricity systems are vulnerable to growing threats. A renewed commitment to resiliency, however, can ensure future mission success.
Introduction The global projection of US military power begins at home. From military installations across the Continental United States (CONUS), the US military exerts command and control, projects global strike capabilities, generates forces for global deployment, accesses the space domain and cyber domains, and provides key logistic support. Reliable electric power is crucial to ensure that these bases can fulfill their missions— electric power is a key component of military power, and energy resilience is not just a technical necessity, but a security imperative.1 Congress, the Department of Defense (DOD), and the military services recognized the need for operable, reliable, and resilient
ATLANTIC COUNCIL
installations. Congress directed that, by 2030, the secretary of defense will ensure that electric power is available 99.9 percent of the time for critical mission systems on US bases.2 Yet, the DOD is falling short of that goal. As of 2024, the average system reliability is falling short of that target by approximately 40 basis points.3 Aging infrastructure, extreme weather, and malicious attacks “outside the fence” are increasingly challenging the reliability and resiliency of defense installations.4 Simultaneously, a lack of prioritization of resources and a disjointed resource allocation process are straining the assets “inside the fence.” The DOD has taken essential steps to improve the reliability and resiliency of ins-
1.
HQDA G-4, “Energy Resilience: Sustain the Mission – Secure the Future,” U.S. Army, October 24, 2022, https://www.army.mil/article/261396/energy_resilience_sustain_the_mission_secure_the_future.
2.
10 U.S.C. § 2801 (2024), https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title10-section2801&num=0&edition=prelim.
3.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, Energy Resilience and Conservation Report, U.S. Department of Defense, April 2024, https://www.acq. osd.mil/eie/ero/oe/docs/reports/2024/2024-Energy-Resilience-and-Conservation-Report. pdf.
4.
Anna Ribeiro, “NERC 2025 RISC Report Finds Cybersecurity, Supply Chain, Critical Infrastructure Interdependencies among Top Reliability Risks,” Industrial Cyber, August 21, 2025, https://industrialcyber.co/reports/nerc-2025-risc-report-finds-cybersecurity-supply-chain-critical-infrastructure-interdependencies-among-top-reliability-risks/.
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