Army installations are already a front on the modern battlefield, and they need new protections and technology to keep enemies from sabotaging soldiers before they even reach the fight.

Lt. Gen. Gwendolyn Bingham, assistant chief of staff for installation management, told the audience at the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition that energy security, artificial intelligence, big data and smart city research will be key to keeping installations secure and ready.

J. Randall Robinson, acting assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment, pointed to vulnerabilities that range from commercial drones to social media tracking and misinformation campaigns that threaten installations and personnel stateside.

“The new battlefield framework is focused on multi-domain battle,” Robinson said. “Installations are, without question, an initial maneuver point and part of battlefield formations.”

Robinson said Installation Command plans to hold its own version of “Mad Scientist for Installations,” such as the event conducted by Training and Doctrine Command to partner academia, industry, government and community experts to envision future installations.

One step leaders have taken is to re-establish the dormant Installation Board of Directors, Robinson.

But the threats are not only from adversaries, Bingham reminded the attendees. Natural disasters can disable power plants without alternative energy sources. She pointed to the energy efficiencies being created through solar projects and other such programs at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and Fort Hood, Texas.

Bingham added she would like to identify a “pilot installation” to test future technologies and work in existing technologies for installations.

Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.

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