The Pentagon and Britain are bracing for the power to go out. The ultrawealthy got there first, with backup generators, escape homes, and stockpiles | Fortune
While the Pentagon plans for 90-day grid independence and Britain urges families to stockpile three days of water, Silicon Valley's billionaires quietly built their escape infrastructure years ago.
1 / 5In the article · Yank's paraphrase
Sam Altman's 2016 disaster prep list: guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.
AI Summary
Fortune reports that the Pentagon is developing a programme called FORTRESS requiring each major U.S. base to operate independently for at least 90 days in the event of a grid or supply-chain failure, while the U.K. government's Be Ready campaign is urging households to stockpile essentials for three days.
Yank Summary
What matters, in Yank’s words, each linked to where the source says it.
The Pentagon programme FORTRESS would require major bases to be self-sufficient in water, fuel, communications, and power for at least 90 days. In the source
Mark Zuckerberg's Kauai compound, estimated at roughly $270 million, includes an underground shelter larger than 5,000 square feet with its own energy and food supplies. In the source
Sam Altman's 2016 disaster prep list: guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.
Altman's own words reveal how concretely a leading AI CEO translates existential anxiety into physical preparations.
In context
But some of his peers have spoken more freely about preparing for disaster. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman listed his own preparations in a 2016 New Yorker profile: “guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.” In 2017, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman told the same magazine he believed more than half of Silicon Valley’s billionaires had invested in what those circles call “apocalypse insurance,” typically a retreat somewhere in the U.S. or overseas.
disaster. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman listed his own preparations in a Altman's 2016 New Yorker profile: disaster prep list: guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.
Receipt
Reid Hoffman in 2017: more than half of Silicon Valley's billionaires had invested in what those circles call "apocalypse insurance" — typically a retreat somewhere in the U.S. or overseas.
Hoffman's estimate shows elite doomsday preparation is a widespread Silicon Valley norm, not individual eccentricity.
In context
But some of his peers have spoken more freely about preparing for disaster. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman listed his own preparations in a 2016 New Yorker profile: “guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.” In 2017, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman told the same magazine he believed more than half of Silicon Valley’s billionaires had invested in what those circles call “apocalypse insurance,” typically a retreat somewhere in the U.S. or overseas.
2017, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman told the same magazine he believed in 2017: more than half of Silicon Valley's billionaires had invested in what those circles call "apocalypse insurance" — typically a retreat somewhere in the U.S. or overseas.
Receipt
"I now have a safety blanket for this thing that scares me."
Hoffman explains the psychological payoff driving billionaire bunker investment: anxiety relief, not rational risk calculation.
In context
…teries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.” In 2017, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman told the same magazine he believed more than half of Silicon Valley’s billionaires had invested in what those circles call “apocalypse insurance,” typically a retreat somewhere in the U.S. or overseas. “Human motivation is complex, and I think people can say, ‘I now have a safety blanket for this thing that scares me,’” Hoffman told The New Yorker.…
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Under the Pentagon's FORTRESS program, each major base in the contiguous U.S. would need to operate independently for at least 90 days if war cuts off the grid and supply chains.
The 90-day self-sufficiency requirement shows the U.S. military is planning for the same grid-collapse scenarios the ultra-wealthy already prepare for privately.
In context
The Pentagon is planning for the possibility that the lights go out and stay out. Under a requirement now in development, each major base in the 48 contiguous states would need to function on its own for at least 90 days if a war cuts off the grid and supply chains. Fox News Digital first reported the news after reviewing internal Pentagon documents. The Pentagon hasn’t said which adversary it has in mind, but in 2024 U.S. cybersecurity, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies warned Chinese state-backed hackers had broken into American energy, water, and communications networks, possibly to disrupt them during a future conflict. Under the program known as FORTRESS, the Pentagon’s indepen…
Under a requirement now in development, the Pentagon's FORTRESS program, each major base in the 48 contiguous states U.S. would need to function on its own operate independently for at least 90 days if a war cuts off the grid and supply chains.
Receipt
"What used to be a temporary inconvenience has now become part of the infrastructure of doing business here."
A luxury agent confirms that extreme security measures have shifted from deterrent to desirable feature among Palm Beach's wealthiest buyers.
In context
That emphasis on protection shows up in other wealthy enclaves, too. In Palm Beach, Fla., the stretch of South Ocean Boulevard that passes Mar-a-Lago, was shut down earlier this year over security concerns tied to the Iran war. It cut through a strip of oceanfront mansions known as Billionaires’ Beach. But local agents said buyers treated the closure as a selling point, not a nuisance. “What used to be a temporary inconvenience has now become part of the infrastructure of doing business here,” Palm Beach–based luxury agent Jessica Julian told Fortune in April.
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