Texas Insider Report: SAN ANTONIO Texas At the request of Congressman Will Hurd House
Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry traveled to
Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio and
Joint Base San Antonio to learn more about cybersecurity pilot training readiness and other vital national security interests relevant to these bases. Included in the itinerary was
a panel with Hurd and Thornberry moderated by Robert Rivard Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Rivard Report.
Below is a thorough article of the issues discussed on the panel.
Thornberry: No Military Base Closures in 2017
By EDMOND ORTIZ on 3 May 2016 at 15:01
U.S. Rep.
William Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) assured the audience gathered at Pearl Stable Tuesday morning that there will not be a round of U.S. Military base closures in 2017 though he couldnt say the same for years beyond that.
San Antonio has intimate knowledge of the militarys Base Realignment and Closure procedures:
Kelly Air Force Base now
Port San Antonio closed in 2001 and
Brooks Air Force Base now
Brooks City Base closed in 2002.
Thornberry is waiting for data requested from the Pentagon that may prove base closures and realignment save the federal government money at a time when the U.S. defense budget could use more support.
If you look at the military budget from 2010 to 2014 it went down 21. The one area where it went up even during the overall decline was cybersecurity because it is this new domain of war-fighting Thornberry said. We are playing catch up to the threat.
Thornberry spoke during a
San Antonio Chamber of Commerce panel discussion with U.S. Rep.
Will Hurd (R-San Antonio) on Tuesday that addressed the growing importance of San Antonios military and cybersecurity professionals to enhancing Americas security. Rivard Report Director Robert Rivard served as moderator.
Thornberry who represents the Texas Panhandle and parts of north Texas spent Monday and Tuesday meeting with local city and military leaders. He briefly talked with Mayor Ivy Taylor in private before the chamber breakfast as Taylor had to leave to attend a
San Antonio Water System board meeting.
During this meeting the board unanimously approved a $150000 administration fee to the
Alamo Area Council of Governments for managing the $5 million
Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant that will reimburse SAWS and the City for less than half of the $11 million infrastructure costs of connecting area military bases to SAWS system. City and base leadership have said that water security is one of many issues that the military looks for when deciding which bases to close.
Nearly four miles of pipeline will be installed to provide Camp Bullis Ft. Sam Houston and Lackland Air Force Base with a backup water supply of less than 4600 acre feet per year. Because the
Trinity Aquifer wells that Camp Bullis relies on are failing it will be SAWS first priority to complete the pipeline project this year SAWS officials said and all others will be completed by November 2017.
Security Hill which houses cybersecurity intelligence and space command efforts for the 25th Air Force on Lackland AFB requires the largest piece of the funding: $7.5 million. But because of security concerns its unknown how many acre feet will be used by these facilities.
City Council approved a $5.6 million impact fee waiver earlier this year
San Antonios reputation of Military City USA and the rising profile of the citys high technology sector both have a vital role to play in the national cyber conversation the panelists agreed.
Hurd and Thornberry have plenty of experience between them to discuss cybersecurity and how it affects the nations defense. Thornberry is the first Texan member of Congress to chair the influential
U.S. House Armed Services Committee and Hurd is a former
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative and brings with him the experience of nearly one decade of undercover work.
Hurd is in a highly competitive re-election campaign to continue representing a district that covers 800 miles between San Antonio and El Paso including much of the U.S.-Mexican border.
The more established hubs of technology the better Thornberry said because hubs like Silicon Valley encourage the development of innovative solutions in national security.
San Antonio has a case to make for itself because of the civilian cyber work that goes on here and the military work he said. Not only are the people going back and forth the innovation is going back and forth. The cooperation is what you have to have in cyber as much as any other part of warfare.
San Antonios reputation as a cyber hub is becoming more renown around the country Hurd said as the locally based
24th Air Force and
25th Air Force provides significant help in the defense of the national digital infrastructure.
Cyber is a domain like air land or sea and (the Air Force is) leading in that area Hurd said adding that local military agencies can reach out to the private sector for cooperation. What theyre doing now in collaboration with the chamber and groups like
Geekdom is creating this platform a sandbox a proving ground for new technology.
Hurd said as Americas digital infrastructure increases and ages so do the threats to its security. Local universities such as the
University of Texas at San Antonio Texas A&M University-San Antonio and
Trinity University have a role to play in preparing a tech-minded workforce.
You also have to have
Rackspace and
USAA and their role when it comes to protecting infrastructure Hurd said.
The
U.S. Department of Homeland Security has expanded its footprint in San Antonio with the creation of regional task forces such as Joint Task Force-West located at
Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
Its tasked with looking at the (U.S.-Mexican) border in a fashion it hasnt done before Hurd said. People know the importance of San Antonio.
Hurd and Thornberry said that enhancing the nations offensive cybersecurity capabilities is critical especially with the growing cyber threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) other terrorist groups and rouge nations.
People understand were being attacked everyday by a variety of actors by sophisticated state actors criminals and lots of things in between Thornberry said. The challenge is that the threat has been growing over time and faster than our policies have been able to keep up. We have the best people best technology but our laws and technologies have not kept up.
Hurd added that in preparing for actual warfare a nation can spend millions of dollars and several years in researching and developing a weapon whereas in cyberwarfare an attack can be carried out in a matter of hours or days. In other words the rules of warfare are changing fast.
What were trying to do is encourage the military to more expeditiously take advantage of innovation in the private sector to buy stuff faster because if you go through the whole military procurement process by the time you get a piece of software its out of date Thornberry said. We have to figure out how to operate at the speed of light because thats the speed at which cyber is conducted.
The way we buy IT goods and services the speed at which we do it impacts our national security Hurd said.
Hurd and Thornberry also said the United States can impose a form of deterrence in two ways: Publicly holding accountable those responsible for launching cyber-attacks against America and its allies and by openly noting its cybersecurity capabilities.
However Thornberry acknowledged bureaucracy and politics tend to bog down the allocation of resources and cutting-edge technology that the military needs for proper cybersecurity.
The two congressmen also agreed basic communication among relevant agencies quick sharing of intelligence is vital to everyones cybersecurity efforts given the storied lack of communication pre-9/11 and among European officials prior to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. Thornberry said the United States must continue to lead by example in this area.
There is no substitute for U.S. leadership. If we dont lead Europe is not able to replace us. The worlds a more dangerous place he said.
Information sharing in Europe needs to improve Hurd added. He noted how the U.S. House passed
legislation last month to speed up the nations ability to share proven technologies with its allies.
The Enhancing Overseas Traveler Vetting Act will let the United States develop and share open-source software to help European allies vet travelers and identify known or suspected jihadists. Hurd said U.S. agencies have greatly improved their communication and information sharing abilities since 2000 when he arrived at the CIA.
If we can get our European allies to that level well be much stronger he added.
Managing Editor Iris Dimmick attended the SAWS board meeting on Tuesday morning and contributed to this report.
