(Host) Camp Johnson, the headquarters of the Vermont National Guard, will receive nearly eight million dollars to develop a cyberwarfare training center. The money will be used to train members of the military to protect U.S. information systems and exploit weaknesses in enemy computer networks.
Senator Patrick Leahy and Adjutant General Martha Rainville made the announcement Friday. Speaking to a room full of National Guard members, Leahy said that protecting information systems must be a high military priority:
(Leahy) “Now, of course, in an era of terrorism we realize that our whole infrastructure, one of the greatest dangers it faces is a cyber-attack. Our telecommunications, our electronics, energy – all of these areas face these attacks all the time and frankly without going into in this room, you’re all aware that a number of these attacks have been tried and have failed.”
(Host) General Rainville says that Vermont National Guard has always been at the forefront of information technology. She says the new appropriation will allow the Vermont Guard to be able to build on its past success:
(Rainville) “What we feel we are best at and where we can really support this effort is through training, through being a schoolhouse. And through the development of courses, in gathering the needs and requirements and building courses to instruct and to teach officers and enlisted how to be good commanders, how to use information for success and how to recognize the use of information against them.”
(Host) $3.5 million of the appropriation will go to the Vermont Air National Guard, and $4.2 million will go to the Vermont Army National Guard. The money will be used to purchase hardware and software, and to cover the cost of personnel.