One of the country’s largest states now has the largest state-run cybersecurity agency. On Monday, the Texas Cyber Command (TXCC) launched operations. The agency was created by House Bill 150, which Governor Greg Abbott signed into law in June at a ceremony at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).
“Our state is under constant attack by cyber criminals, attacks that occur thousands of times every single second of every single day,” said Governor Abbott at the signing.
“Attacks often come from foreign actors from hostile countries like China, Russia, and Iran. They successfully attacked cities, counties, and government agencies in Texas, from Mission to Muleshoe,” Abbott added. “Its ultimate mission is to prevent and protect against cyber breaches. Working together with the Texas Cyber Command, Texas will be on the path to be a national leader in cybersecurity.”
Introducing The Texas Cyber Command
The new cyber command in the Lone Star State was funded through a $135 million investment to identify and then repair weaknesses in state and local government systems. The Texas Cyber Command will further train and educate businesses and residents on how to best prevent cyber breaches, with San Antonio recognized as having the second-largest concentration of cyber expertise in the country, after the Washington, D.C., metro area.
“The imperative is this state has a dependency on cyberspace in ways that you all live, but you may not necessarily know in detail or depth the circumstances the state and every other state and everywhere across the globe, has an extraordinary vulnerability,” Vice Admiral Timothy James White, United States Navy (Retired) said in remarks to elected leaders and UT system leaders at the university’s downtown campus.
“Please make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, big actors in this space, state, nation-state actors in this space, criminal organizations in this space,” White added. “They’re coming for Texas. They’ve come for Texas. They are here.”
A Partner in Cybersecurity
TXCC will also coordinate with local, state, and federal partners to develop an effective response system for attacks and to establish a new cybersecurity standard. The Texas Cyber Command is headquartered in San Antonio, where it will lead national cybersecurity missions, including with the FBI, the NSA, the United States Secret Service, the United States Army, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Southwest Fusion Center, the Texas Department of Information Resources, Texas Military Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
It will work closely with the Sixteenth Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio. The unit is responsible for overseeing the service’s information warfare.
“UT San Antonio stands ready to contribute subject matter expertise and state of the art facilities to help build a robust cyber defense infrastructure for the state of Texas, developing advanced cyber tools, cultivating partnerships, including our deep federal ecosystem here, and supporting cyber security operations,” said UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy, who emphasized that the university is already poised to play a significant role to advance the cybersecurity mission. “We look forward to working together to ensure ongoing success and security for San Antonio and all of Texas, and to be the benchmark for excellence at the national level is the first state to do this.”
Cyber Commands Across the Country
TXCC will be the largest state-run cyber command, and it is also home to the 24th Air Force (Air Force Cyber) at Lackland Air Force Base (AFB) and Joint Base San Antonio. Three other states are home to United States military cyber commands, with headquarters located in Maryland, Virginia, and Arizona.
The central U.S. Cyber Command is in Maryland at Fort George G. Meade, also the headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Information Systems Agency. The subordinate commands include the U.S. Army Cyber Command at Fort Belvoir, VA, and the Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) at Fort Huachuca, AZ.
