NDnationalGuardRAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – The Army National Guard in the Dakotas will be part of one of seven new Army National Guard cyber protection teams around the country.
 
     The goal is to help protect the nation’s cyber infrastructure and address emerging cyber threats.
 
     The National Guard Bureau says the cyber units will be activated in 23 states by the end of fiscal 2019. The Guard in North Dakota and South Dakota will be part of a 39-member team also involving Colorado and Utah.
 
     The team is expected to be organized during fiscal 2018. No decision has been made on where the unit will be based.

    BISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Army National Guard in 2018 will activate several information technology personnel positions to bolster the Department of Defense’s cyberspace forces and defend critical military and civilian government computer network infrastructure. In a memo sent Wednesday, the National Guard Bureau announced that North Dakota will be one of several states to complement a regional Army National Guard Cyber Protection Team (CPT).

“Our goal for cyber-defense is to train, equip and provide highly skilled forces responsive to the needs of the nation,” said Army Gen. Frank Grass, chief of the National Guard Bureau, in a news story published Wednesday. “Working with the Army and Air Force our cyber squadrons and teams will provide trained and ready Soldiers and Airmen to support requirements established by the services and U.S. Cyber Command.”

The National Guard’s first full-time, federal CPT unit, the 1636th Cyber Protection Team, was established in 2014 in Laurel, Maryland. Ten additional units will be added and will fall under state control. In addition to North Dakota, National Guard cyber specialists will operate in CPTs across Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, South Dakota Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Once activated, they will join Army Guard units in California, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, which already have been announced.

Each CPT is comprised of 39 Guard Soldiers. Seven North Dakota Soldiers will support a shared CPT between Colorado, South Dakota and Utah. The cyber units are aligned to assist local Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions, of which North Dakota supports Region VIII, to carry out the National Guard’s mission of assisting in domestic emergency responses.

“This is an exciting time for the North Dakota National Guard. While our Soldiers and Airmen have continually proven themselves on battlefields overseas and during state emergencies at home, our cyber defenders will support our nation and state by detecting, analyzing and mitigating threats and vulnerabilities in the evolving arena of cyberspace,” said Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, North Dakota adjutant general. “We look forward to the addition of our Cyber Protection Team specialists and know it will be filled with some of the most highly-skilled, capable National Guard Soldiers.”

The Air National Guard, nationally, also will have 12 Cyberspace Operations Squadrons that will participate in cyber protection, although not in North Dakota. According to the National Guard Bureau, the roll-out of National Guard cyber units is “part of laying out a larger foundation for future cyber forces scheduled for activation.” By the end of 2019, 23 states will be home to an Air or Army National Guard cyber unit.

“This is the beginning,” said Air Force Col. Kelly Hughes, chief of the Space and Cyber Warfare Operations Division at the Air National Guard Readiness Center, in Wednesday’s news story. “This is a massive amount of force structure the Guard has laid into this mission, but this is just the first layer.”

Should they be needed, the CPTs and cyber squadrons can be called upon to support state governors to provide cyber protection on government networks. While each state may not yet be home to a National Guard cyber unit, resources can be shared through Emergency Management Assistance Compacts.