There’s been a lot of talk lately about replenishing U.S. military stockpiles drained by our support for Ukraine and Israel. That’s true—our reserves of everything from missiles to artillery shells are at dangerously low levels. But focusing solely on restocking munitions would be shortsighted. If the next U.S. administration doesn’t expand its strategy to include investments in our energy, technology, and infrastructure, we’ll be prepared to fight yesterday’s war while remaining vulnerable to the conflicts of tomorrow.
The wars of the future won’t be fought in the same way as those of the past. Long gone are the days when firepower alone determined military dominance. Modern warfare will be a test of resilience across multiple domains: energy, cyberspace, and communications. Without investments in these critical areas, restocking the Pentagon’s arsenal will be meaningless when our enemies shut down our power grids, hack our data centers, and sever our supply chains.
Yes, we need to replenish our arsenal. The Pentagon’s stocks of long-range anti-air missiles, such as Stingers and Patriots, are at critical lows, and rebuilding them will take years. But military power is no longer measured solely in munitions. The wars of the future will be won by the side that can out-think, out-maneuver, and out-adapt its adversary—and that means focusing on advanced technology and resilient infrastructure.
The weakness of our energy infrastructure has become painfully obvious. The grid that powers our homes, industries, and military installations is dangerously exposed to both physical and cyberattacks. It’s no secret that a coordinated assault on just a handful of substations could cause a cascading failure that would cripple the entire nation’s power supply. Recent events have underscored just how vulnerable we are. Hurricane Helene tore through the Southeast, leaving millions without power across multiple states, and it wasn’t a highly sophisticated attack—it was a storm. If a natural disaster can knock out the grid for days, what would a concerted attack from a capable adversary look like?
This administration’s supposed infrastructure investments have done little to address these vulnerabilities. Instead, we’ve seen a parade of pork-barrel spending projects masquerading as infrastructure upgrades. The billions allocated haven’t gone to modernizing the grid or hardening substations—they’ve gone to pet projects and feel-good green initiatives that do nothing to secure our energy resilience. The result? A fragile power grid that remains the Achilles’ heel of American infrastructure, where a single event—be it a storm or a cyberattack—could plunge major regions into darkness.
Russia’s repeated attacks on Ukraine’s power grid have shown just how devastating a targeted strike can be. When Moscow systematically targeted Ukraine’s power plants and substations, it didn’t just plunge cities into darkness; it hampered Ukraine’s ability to move troops, coordinate defenses, and keep critical industries running. That’s a warning shot the U.S. can’t ignore. A resilient grid isn’t just about keeping the lights on—it’s a foundational pillar of national defense. The next administration needs to prioritize upgrading our energy infrastructure to make it decentralized, fortified, and capable of operating in “island mode” to withstand attacks?
Energy is only one piece of the puzzle. The digital infrastructure that underpins everything from our logistics networks to missile defense systems is equally vulnerable. According to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), over 60% of federal agencies still rely on legacy IT systems—systems that are slow, insecure, and incapable of supporting modern cybersecurity protocols. These outdated systems represent a massive liability, one that our adversaries are well aware of.
The current East Coast longshoremen strike has highlighted another weak spot in our national security: supply chains. The strike is already costing the U.S. economy up to $5 billion a day, with ports along the East and Gulf Coasts handling more than 68% of containerized exports and 56% of containerized imports. This disruption is creating bottlenecks for everything from car parts to fresh produce, threatening to ripple through supply chains nationwide. If the flow of goods can be brought to a halt by labor unrest, imagine the impact of a coordinated attack on our ports or transportation networks. We saw a preview of this with the supply chain breakdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the consequences could be far graver during a future conflict.
The digital infrastructure that supports these supply chains is woefully out of date, making it a prime target for disruption. During the SolarWinds hack of 2020, Russian-backed operatives breached the networks of multiple U.S. federal agencies, exposing the fragility of our digital backbone. China, Iran, and even non-state actors are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their cyber capabilities. They’re probing our defenses, mapping our networks, and waiting for the right moment to strike. If the U.S. wants to maintain its edge, we need to replace these outdated systems with next-generation IT infrastructure capable of defending against a full-spectrum cyber assault.
But it’s not enough to just secure what we have. We need to leap ahead, embracing the technologies that will define the next era of warfare. Artificial intelligence is poised to become the decisive factor in future conflicts, providing advantages in everything from logistics optimization and predictive maintenance to real-time threat analysis and autonomous combat systems. While the Department of Defense has made progress, it’s not nearly enough. The U.S. is already a decade behind China in integrating AI into military applications. Beijing’s military is advancing rapidly, using AI to streamline its command-and-control systems and enhance decision-making on the battlefield.
The recent clashes between Israel and Iran are a stark reminder of what a technological edge can achieve. Despite facing a barrage of over 200 ballistic missiles from Tehran, Israel’s sophisticated defense systems, driven by advanced AI and real-time data integration, intercepted nearly every incoming projectile. This wasn’t just a triumph of steel and iron; it was a victory for smart investments in technology. Iran’s missile technology may have improved, but its advances are crude compared to Israel’s layered defenses, which integrate radar, artificial intelligence, and automated decision-making to identify and neutralize threats in real time.
This success didn’t happen overnight. Israel has spent decades investing in R&D, nurturing a culture of innovation, and integrating cutting-edge technologies into every facet of its national defense. The U.S. should take note. It’s not just about having more weapons—it’s about having better systems. For Israel, a small nation surrounded by hostile neighbors, the digital backbone that enables rapid response and networked defense is its real force multiplier. The U.S. must adopt a similar mindset.
The next administration needs to think in broader terms. Stockpiling missiles and munitions is necessary, but it’s not sufficient. We need a strategy that ties together military strength, energy resilience, and digital modernization. This means a fortified power grid that can keep critical systems running under duress, a modernized digital infrastructure that’s hardened against cyber threats, and the seamless integration of AI to gain real-time insights and battlefield awareness.
The choice for the next administration is simple: we can focus on rebuilding a military for the past, or we can invest in building the infrastructure for the future. Because the next war won’t be won by the side with the most missiles—it’ll be won by the side that can keep the lights on, the data flowing, and the systems thinking faster than the adversary.
The choice is ours, but time is running out.
