The Pentagon has put timing under the same roof as warhead counts. A framework memo signed on October 6 makes space and spectrum resilience the first of five pillars in FORTRESS America, the homeland-hardening programme Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood up on September 30.
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey set the structure and named Richard “Matt” O’Malley interim director of a new programme office. Duffey’s directive orders end-to-end mission assurance across space and the electromagnetic spectrum, with satellite links hardened, navigation and timing resilience lifted, and electronic protection built in to deny adversary interference.
Why timing sits at the top of the list
Assured positioning, navigation and timing is what keeps networks synchronised, fires coordinated and command posts talking. Jamming or spoofing a receiver can break those functions while the infrastructure itself stays physically intact, which is the kind of attack a base cannot inspect for.
Analysts writing up the guidance note the same gap: the Pentagon has recognised the dependency, but recognition is not funding. They ask whether FORTRESS America will accelerate military GPS modernisation and alternative navigation programmes, or simply catalogue them.
A wider net than satellites
The remaining pillars cover installation hardening and zero-trust control systems, power generation independent of the civilian grid, domestic supply lines, and stockpiled reserves. Eight senior officials, including the Air Force secretary and the Pentagon chief information officer, must each name a representative to coordinate with the new office.
Hegseth framed the effort as insurance against an adversary that takes down the grid or the spectrum. Whether the space pillar gets money, or only language, is the question the next budget will answer.
