Joel Skousen has spent nearly five decades helping people answer one question: where should you live when the systems around you start to fail?

This talk has never been available publicly. Joel delivered it at Exit & Build 2, and we're releasing it now for the first time.

In it he walks through the core of his life's work:

Strategic relocation and how to evaluate where you live right now. Population density, prevailing winds, nuclear and military target proximity, water access, growing season, state law, and the neighbors you'd actually be depending on. Joel breaks down why he looks west of the Mississippi, which states he's changed his mind about, and the mistakes people make when they relocate for the wrong reasons.

Home and retreat security. Joel is an architect who's designed high security residences across North America, Canada, and Latin America. He gets into secure room design, EMP-protected power, water and food storage, and what actually holds up versus what just feels safe.

And the honest assessment of the threats. Grid failure, EMP, economic collapse, war, and the long-term consolidation of surveillance and control. Joel doesn't sugarcoat any of it, and he'll tell you why he refuses to. His view is that optimism is what keeps people from preparing.

About Joel Skousen

Former Navy and Marine Corps fighter pilot turned architect. He began writing The Secure Home in 1979, making him one of the genuine pioneers of the modern preparedness movement. He's the author of Strategic Relocation: North American Guide to Safe Places, still the definitive reference on threat-based relocation, and co-author of The High Security Shelter Book with his son, a structural engineer. He has published the World Affairs Brief every week for decades.

Joel is speaking at Exit & Build 6

We just announced it. Joel is joining us in person at Exit & Build 6, November 5 through 8, 2026, at Sovereignty Ranch in Bandera, Texas.

He's giving a full talk plus a hands-on workshop, going deeper than he could in the time he had here. Nuclear and fallout protection, secure water and food storage, EMP-protected long-term power, evading social unrest, and the secure room design he's spent a career refining. You'll be able to walk up and ask him about your own property, your own plan, your own situation.

Exit & Build 6 is four days on a working regenerative ranch in the Texas Hill Country with speakers and builders across the counter-economy, decentralized tech, private realm structures, food and land, and lawful remedy. The whole event is built around implementation zones, where you don't just take notes. You leave with your crypto wallet funded, your privacy gaps closed, your land or community plan drawn up, and your private realm pathway mapped.

Ticket prices go up August 31st.

Get your ticket: https://exitandbuild.com

Brought to you by Live Free Academy. Stay free out there.

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