A shekara ta 1940, Hitler ya ja-goranci Nazi na Jamus suka mamaye ƙasashen Norway da Denmark da Netherlands da Belgium da kuma Faransa. A halin yanzu, a watan Satumba na wannan shekarar, Daular Japan ta mamaye kuma ta ci Indochina ta Faransa yayin da take yaƙi da China a lokaci guda a lokacin Yaƙin Sino-Japan na biyu. Akwai damuwa da yawa a Alaska game da rashin tsaro na soja, kamar yadda yake da rauni ga mamayewa na Axis. Gruening ya kasance yana turawa don samar da kayan aikin tsaro a Alaska tun lokacin da aka nada shi gwamna, kuma saboda ayyukan da Jamus da Japan suka yi kwanan nan, Majalisa ta sanya kudade don gina sansanin soja da filayen jirgin sama a yankin. A shekara ta 1941, akwai sojoji 3,000 na Sojojin Amurka da ke kewaye da Alaska. Tare da harin a kan Pearl Harbor, Gruening shirya domin Alaska ya zama na gaba. An tsara yadda za a yi amfani da wutar lantarki da kuma rundunar kāre rayukan jama'a waɗanda aikinsu na farko shi ne su "tsare gidajen rediyo, tashoshin tarho, tankunan mai, da kuma tashoshin jiragen ruwa, kuma su kasance a faɗake don kada a yi musu ɓarna". Sojojin sun fadada ayyukansu a Alaska, a hankali suna motsawa zuwa Aleutian Chain, hanyar da ta fi dacewa daga Asiya. Jafananci sun isa Alaska a watan Yunin 1942, suna jefa bama-bamai
Dutch Harbor da saukowa a tsibirin Attu da Kiska, kawai wuraren da ke cikin Amurka da aka kama a lokacin yakin duniya na biyu.