ADC LIVE Feature: Testing Resilience

March 31, 2021

The first episode of the Association of Defense Communities (ADC) LIVE series examines how the resilience of military installations and their communities was tested during the Texas Winter Storm Uri that knocked out power for almost 70% of ERCOT customers.

Fort Hood Garrison Commander Col. Jason Wesbrock shares how operations at Fort Hood were impacted, including successes based on previous resilience efforts.

John Conger, Director of the Center for Climate and Security, and Jonathan Monken, Principal at Converge Strategies provides a national perspective and focused discussion on what it means to strengthen energy resilience and how bases and communities can better prepare for adverse weather.

“We have to understand what a shared risk environment looks like if we really want to have a chance at tackling resilience systematically to get risk to an acceptable level for the community and for national security implications ”
— Jonathon Monken, Principal, Converge Strategies on ADC LIVE

“There were multiple instances during that event in Texas where a hospital had electricity but because they did not have access to potable water they were forced to evacuate the building.

We need to understand that decisions both in terms of investment in infrastructure and real-time operational decisions can have significant consequences for the community and the people who rely on those life support systems”
— Jonathon Monken, Principal, Converge Strategies on ADC LIVE

About Jonathon Monken

Jonathon has deep public and private sector experience in the areas of national security, emergency preparedness, risk management, and energy resilience planning.

During the past several years he pioneered programs to build enterprise-level resilience for the utility sector through information sharing, public and private sector integration, and large-scale exercise development and execution. Previously, he served as VP for the U.S. Operations for the Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council where he worked with government and industry to develop best practices and capabilities to improve the resilience of life support infrastructure systems to widespread, long-duration power outages, known as “Black Sky” events.

Jonathon earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Jonathon serves in the Army Reserves supporting the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He is a Fellow with the Truman National Security Project.

Media Contact

Adair Douglas

adouglas@convergestrategies.com

202.934.3856

“The threat environment is changing. Infrastructure is inherently more vulnerable and actions need to be taken.”
— Jonathon Monken, Principal, Converge Strategies on ADC LIVE