When someone who once held one of the FBI’s highest-ranking positions urges Americans to stockpile emergency supplies, it naturally raises an uncomfortable question: What does he know that the rest of us don’t?
Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is urging Americans to prepare for the possibility that the basic services they depend on every day—electricity, running water, communications, and access to food—could become unavailable during a major crisis.
During his October 26 podcast, Bongino recommended keeping at least 72 hours’ worth of food and water, along with emergency radios, batteries, water filtration equipment, and other essential supplies.
His central message was simple: Preparing for the worst doesn’t mean expecting the worst. It means refusing to be helpless if the worst happens.
“Panic kills,” Bongino warned.
Drawing on his experience in the Secret Service, Bongino explained that remaining calm under pressure is essential, and that being prepared can help prevent fear from turning into panic.
His warning was amplified on social media, where the Bongino Report account shared his appeal to families to obtain emergency supplies.
But beyond the immediate advice to stock up, his remarks raise a broader question: Have Americans become dangerously dependent on an infrastructure system that could prove far more fragile than they realize?
- Top 5 Reasons to Always Be Prepared
- Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Extreme Weather
- Widespread Power Grid Failures
- Supply Chain Disruptions and Food Shortages (due to the Iran conflict and the Russia-Ukraine War)
- Cyberattacks on Critical Infrastructure (caused by Iran, Russia, China, or North Korea)
- Drinking Water Emergencies (due to infrastructure attacks by Iran, Russia, or North Korea)
Why Is Bongino Sounding the Alarm Now?
One of the developments behind Bongino’s warning involves the Pentagon’s efforts to strengthen the resilience of American military installations.
Under an initiative known as FORTRESS, the Defense Department is working toward making major U.S. military bases capable of sustaining essential operations for up to 90 days without depending on outside electricity, water, fuel, or supply chains.
For the military, such preparations are a matter of national security. A prolonged disruption to civilian infrastructure shouldn’t automatically mean American military operations grind to a halt.
Bongino believes Americans should apply that same philosophy to their own households.
After all, if the military is taking precautions against extended disruptions, shouldn’t ordinary families consider what they would do if their lights went out, their water stopped running, and grocery stores couldn’t restock?
There’s an important distinction, however. Military contingency planning does not necessarily mean officials expect a catastrophic event to occur anytime soon. Preparing for worst-case scenarios is part of the military’s responsibility.
Nevertheless, Bongino’s warning highlights something worth considering: The conveniences of modern life depend on an enormous network of interconnected systems, and disruptions to one can quickly affect others.
FACT: Between 51% and 54% of Americans claim to be prepared for a disaster or weather-related emergency, according to data from FEMA and independent reports like the First Onsite Weather Survey, but the number is probably a bit lower. Are you prepared?
The Threats Americans Didn’t Have to Worry About Decades Ago
Americans have always faced emergencies, from hurricanes and earthquakes to floods, blizzards, and prolonged power outages.
But today’s threats are increasingly complicated.
Modern society depends on computer networks to operate power grids, water treatment facilities, hospitals, transportation systems, financial institutions, and communications networks.
A sufficiently destructive cyberattack against critical infrastructure could potentially disrupt several essential services simultaneously.
Foreign adversaries, including Iran, Russia, and China, have been identified by U.S. security officials as sources of cyber threats. Although their capabilities and intentions vary, the possibility of attacks on critical infrastructure remains a serious national-security concern.
And now there’s another emerging concern: artificial intelligence.
As AI becomes more sophisticated, it could give cybercriminals and hostile governments increasingly powerful tools to identify vulnerabilities, automate malicious activities, and conduct more convincing scams and cyberattacks.
The same technology also offers important defensive capabilities, helping cybersecurity specialists identify and respond to threats more quickly.
The warning isn’t that AI will inevitably cause a national catastrophe. It’s that technological progress is creating new risks alongside its extraordinary benefits.
The more interconnected and technologically dependent society becomes, the more important resilience may be.
Related article: Serbia’s former president warns: It’ll be a miracle if World War III doesn’t begin
What Can Americans Actually Do to Prepare?
The encouraging news is that protecting your household against a temporary emergency doesn’t necessarily require a bunker, a generator, or thousands of dollars’ worth of survival equipment.
Much of Bongino’s advice is consistent with longstanding federal emergency-preparedness recommendations.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends keeping basic emergency supplies, including:
- At least three days’ worth of nonperishable food.
- One gallon of drinking and sanitation water per person per day for at least three days.
- Flashlights, batteries, and an emergency radio.
- First-aid supplies and essential medications.
- Backup charging options and copies of important documents.
- A family emergency plan and a way to receive official alerts.
The CDC also provides guidance on storing emergency drinking water.
These precautions aren’t exclusively for geopolitical emergencies or cyberattacks. They can be just as valuable during a severe winter storm, hurricane, or local utility failure.
And while three days is a useful starting point, families may wish to maintain additional supplies when their circumstances, location, or medical needs warrant them.
America’s Preppers Have Been Warning About This for Decades
Long before Bongino’s latest warning, an entire community of Americans had already embraced the idea that preparing for disasters was a personal responsibility.
They’re commonly called preppers.
For decades, preppers have stored emergency food, water, medical supplies, generators, survival equipment, and other essentials in anticipation of everything from natural disasters and economic collapse to widespread blackouts and nuclear war.
Some build elaborate underground shelters and maintain months or even years of supplies. Others simply keep a well-stocked pantry, emergency water, and backup power at home.
Their approaches vary considerably, but they share one basic belief: Society’s essential services are not guaranteed to remain available under every circumstance.
Over the years, some preppers have been portrayed as paranoid, alarmist, or obsessed with unlikely doomsday scenarios.
Certainly, some predictions of imminent catastrophe have failed to materialize.
But there’s a difference between believing civilization is about to collapse and recognizing that even advanced societies can experience serious emergencies.
And as governments devote greater attention to infrastructure resilience, cybersecurity threats, and emergency planning, at least some of the practical precautions long advocated by preppers are receiving broader public attention.
Perhaps the lesson isn’t that the preppers were right about every disaster they predicted. It’s that preparing for emergencies can be sensible even when the most frightening predictions never come true.
Is Bongino Warning of Something Imminent?
This is the most important question—and one that deserves a careful answer.
Bongino has not publicly presented evidence that a nationwide cyberattack, infrastructure collapse, or other catastrophe is imminent.
His warning should therefore be understood as an appeal for preparedness, not a prediction that disaster is approaching on a particular date.
Likewise, the Pentagon’s efforts to make military installations more self-sufficient shouldn’t automatically be interpreted as evidence that government officials possess secret knowledge of an impending attack.
Military planners routinely prepare for scenarios they hope will never occur.
Still, Bongino’s former position at the FBI gives his remarks an added degree of public interest, even though they represent his own assessment rather than an official government advisory.
The larger issue isn’t whether a disaster will strike tomorrow, next month, or next year. It’s whether Americans would be ready if the systems they take for granted suddenly stopped working.
Final Warning: The Cost of Ignoring a Warning
There’s a reason emergency preparedness remains relevant across generations.
No one can predict every hurricane, blackout, cyberattack, or unforeseen crisis. But people can take reasonable steps to reduce their vulnerability.
And preparation doesn’t have to be motivated by fear. In many cases, it is precisely what allows people to avoid fear when something unexpected occurs.
Americans don’t need to assume catastrophe is inevitable. Nor should they dismiss every warning simply because the most alarming predictions have not come true.
“A warning is a gift of time. Ignore it, and that gift disappears.”
