Ex-FBI figure urges Americans to build basic emergency stockpiles

A former FBI agent and ex-Secret Service officer is urging Americans to take official preparedness advice seriously and assemble basic household stockpiles of food, water, and backup power as governments in the United States and abroad step up planning for severe disruptions.

Podcast warning lands as Pentagon hardens its own defenses

Publicly available coverage of a recent episode of The Dan Bongino Show describes how Dan Bongino, a onetime New York Police Department officer who later worked for the Secret Service and briefly as an FBI agent, devoted a segment to disaster readiness. According to that reporting, he urged listeners to ensure they have at least several days of food and a way to keep the lights on if normal services fail.

The warning arrived as reports indicate the U.S. Department of Defense is developing a requirement for major domestic military bases to operate independently of civilian infrastructure for up to 90 days. Financial media coverage of that planning cites internal documents outlining scenarios in which power grids and other critical systems are disrupted, prompting the Pentagon to focus on on-site energy, water, and supply resilience.

Bongino’s message draws a parallel between the government’s efforts to create what some planners have described as a “Fortress America” posture and the steps individual households can take. Coverage of the podcast notes that he framed personal preparedness as a civilian equivalent, suggesting people think in terms of turning their homes and apartments into small-scale fortresses able to ride out temporary shocks.

The convergence of military contingency planning and popular commentary about stockpiling has pushed what was once a niche prepper topic into mainstream news feeds and social media timelines, widening the audience for basic readiness guidance.

What U.S. agencies actually recommend households keep on hand

According to U.S. federal preparedness guidance summarized on FEMA and Ready.gov, the starting point for most households is a basic disaster supplies kit designed to last at least three days. Officials have updated public information over time to suggest that in many communities, keeping enough supplies for up to two weeks is a more robust target, particularly in areas prone to hurricanes, wildfires, or winter storms.

Current federal materials emphasize water as a top priority. The widely cited benchmark is at least one gallon of water per person per day, allocated for both drinking and limited sanitation. For a family of four, that would mean a minimum of 12 gallons for a three-day disruption, and 56 gallons for two weeks, whether stored in factory-sealed bottles, food-grade containers, or a combination of both.

Food is the next major category. Public guidance highlights non-perishable items that do not require cooking, refrigeration, or extensive preparation if gas and electricity are unavailable. Examples include canned vegetables and beans, canned meat or fish, ready-to-eat soups, peanut butter, shelf-stable milk, granola or energy bars, and infant formula where needed. Households are encouraged to favor familiar foods that fit dietary needs and to rotate stock so that items are used before their expiration dates.

Ready.gov materials also call out a small set of core tools that become crucial when power or communications fail: a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, flashlights or headlamps with spare batteries, a basic first-aid kit, and a way to charge phones such as power banks or solar chargers. For people who rely on prescription medications or critical medical devices, guidance stresses securing several days’ worth of medicines and identifying backup power options in advance.

Global stockpile messaging adds to a sense of urgency

Bongino’s appeal to American audiences comes amid similar messaging in other advanced economies. In the United Kingdom, recent coverage of official preparedness campaigns describes how ministers have encouraged residents to keep several days of food and at least three liters of drinking water per person per day, alongside simple “analogue” items such as candles, matches, torches, wind-up radios, and paper copies of important phone numbers and documents.

Reports from Finland and other northern European countries highlight national “72-hour” concepts that ask households to be self-sufficient for at least three days if public services are disrupted. Publicly available materials from those campaigns recommend water, non-perishable food, basic medicines, hygiene items, and power-free ways to stay warm and informed, such as blankets and battery radios.

European-level policy discussions have also moved in this direction. Coverage of a European Commission preparedness strategy introduced in 2025 notes that officials called for guidance to help residents across the bloc maintain a minimum of 72 hours of essential supplies. The recommendations were framed as a response to a mix of climate-driven disasters, cyber risks to infrastructure, and geopolitical instability affecting energy and logistics.

This combination of national and regional messaging abroad has become a reference point for commentators in the United States, who point out that urging households to keep modest stockpiles is now a visible aspect of mainstream civil defense planning rather than a fringe practice.

Cyber threats and fragile infrastructure underpin the warnings

Behind the calls to stockpile lies a wider concern about how vulnerable modern infrastructure has become. Recent public advisories from U.S. cybersecurity agencies have warned that state-sponsored hackers have targeted networks tied to water utilities, energy providers, transportation systems, and communications firms, raising the possibility of cascading failures if critical services are taken offline.

Analysts quoted in preparedness-focused publications note that even short outages in one sector can ripple quickly through others. A localized grid failure, for example, can knock out traffic signals, mobile phone towers, and payment systems, complicating everything from supermarket restocking to fuel deliveries. In such conditions, having food, water, light, and basic medical supplies at home for several days can significantly reduce strain on emergency responders and public shelters.

Military planning documents cited in recent reporting on the Pentagon’s 90-day base resilience goal are framed around similar worries, particularly the risk that a sophisticated cyberattack or physical sabotage could interrupt the flow of electricity or municipal water to installations that are critical to national defense. By preparing to operate off-grid through on-site power generation, fuel storage, and secure logistics, defense planners aim to ensure that the armed forces can function even if civilian systems are compromised.

Commentators like Bongino have seized on these developments to argue that if the federal government and foreign allies are thinking in terms of weeks or months of resilience, it is reasonable for individual households to think in terms of days or a couple of weeks, especially in regions where extreme weather or aging infrastructure already cause periodic disruptions.

From alarm to action: practical steps without panic buying

Emergency planners and consumer advocates frequently stress that building a home stockpile does not require panic buying or sudden, expensive purchases. Instead, publicly available guides recommend a gradual approach, using routine shopping trips to add a few extra shelf-stable items, water containers, or batteries, and then maintaining that buffer over time.

One commonly cited strategy is to map out what a household actually eats in a typical week and then create a modest reserve of those same foods in canned or shelf-stable form. As items are used in everyday meals, they are replaced on the next shopping trip, so that the pantry always contains several days of supplies that are within their best-by dates and familiar to everyone in the home.

For travelers, second-home owners, and people who spend significant time on the road, experts featured in preparedness articles suggest adapting the same principles in smaller form. That can mean keeping a compact kit in a vehicle with water, snacks, a flashlight, and a phone charger, or ensuring that vacation properties in remote areas have basic supplies stored in case storms, earthquakes, or wildfires disrupt access.

The broader message, reflected in both official guidance and recent media coverage, is that modest, planned stockpiles of essential goods are increasingly viewed as a form of routine risk management. For voices like Bongino’s, the point is less about predicting a specific catastrophe and more about using current government planning and global events as a prompt for households to quietly improve their own resilience ahead of time.