Overlooked in the increasingly heated debate over data centers, the backbone of the artificial intelligence ecosystem, is the strategic reality that data centers are vital for America’s national security in its three inextricably intertwined dimensions: military security, economic security, and political security. In our democratic federal structure, this debate, which ranges from hysteria fueled by ignorance and hype driven by wishful thinking, must and will play out at national, state, and local levels to resolve particular concerns such as a local zoning ordinance, a state sales tax exemption, or a federal nuclear energy operating license.
President Donald Trump, as the nation’s chief executive officer and commander in chief, must use the bully pulpit of his office to warn that decisions to stifle data centers and the AI ecosystem would not only jeopardize our national security now and in the future but also cede the technological future to our adversaries, such as China.
To highlight the role data centers play in safeguarding the U.S.’s national security, Trump can take four concrete steps.
First, Trump must ensure the aggressive implementation of his July 2025 executive order with respect to encouraging the siting of data centers and associated energy infrastructure, including small modular nuclear reactors for electricity generation, on federal properties (both civilian and military). In particular, he should clarify that desalination and water treatment facilities are included within the ambit of the order so that both renewable and nonrenewable energy sources required to generate electricity to power and cool data centers are assured.
For the sake of national security, data centers must have a guaranteed federal option in the face of misguided but nevertheless growing state and local resistance. Without such an alternative, the data centers industry would be hobbled by rampant NIMBYism. From the perspective of the federal government, in addition to safeguarding national security, a potential collateral benefit would be that the value of the properties on which these facilities are located could be significantly boosted.
Second, Trump should also consider appointing a “data centers czar” to drive the fast-tracking process envisioned in his executive order, particularly with respect to granting necessary federal approvals and relaxing or waiving federal regulatory requirements. In states where federal properties are located, the data centers czar would also help resolve state and local issues that could adversely affect the fast-track process.
Third, Trump, together with his national security team led by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, should highlight the critical role of data centers and the whole AI ecosystem in enhancing U.S. military power and turbocharging economic growth.
For example, without compromising any sensitive information, Hegseth could give a sense of the role data centers play in supporting the U.S. and allied militaries (Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) in the current war against Iran. Bessent could underscore the centrality of data centers and the AI ecosystem in driving economic growth via massive investments and possible increases in productivity that could lead to real gross domestic product growth of 3% per annum (the Trump administration target) rather than the 1.8% annual growth assumed by the Congressional Budget Office. A strong economy is the foundation of a strong military and ensures a resilient social benefits safety net.
Fourth, Trump must hammer home the lessons learned from the challenges America faced with respect to nuclear weapons, intercontinental missiles, and the space race with the erstwhile Soviet Union during the Cold War, and frame the context of the data centers and AI ecosystem with the current competition with China to lead the vanguard of technology-driven progress in a period that could be characterized as Cold War 2.0. America won the technology race in the first Cold War and would certainly prefer not to lose the new technology race of the second Cold War.
AI PANIC IS THE NEW CLIMATE HYSTERIA — AND IT’S HANDING THE FUTURE TO CHINA
Ultimately, American citizens who have legitimate concerns about the consequences of technological progress must decide whether they are willing to live in a world where the possibly existential challenges posed by data centers and the AI ecosystem are addressed by Beijing, which has no such qualms and is not constrained by the preferences of its citizenry.
If the United States succumbed to the siren song of technological abstinence and decided to shackle data centers and the AI ecosystem, it would be the equivalent of unilateral disarmament. It is inconceivable that after 250 years, the public would preemptively choose voluntary suicide. The current hysteria will hopefully run its course, and pragmatic common sense, which is in our DNA, surely will prevail.
Samir Tata is the founder and president of International Political Risk Analytics, an advisory firm based in Reston, Virginia, and author of the book Reflections on Grand Strategy: The Great Powers in the Twenty-first Century.