Proposed by Gov. Greg Abbott in his State of the State address in February, the Texas Cyber Command is intended to help protect state entities and infrastructure against cyber attacks. It's being created in partnership with the University of Texas at San Antonio.
"We cannot let any more time go by without strongly, robustly, addressing this problem," Abbott said as he declared creation of the command an emergency item for the Legislature. He said San Antonio's booming cybersecurity industry made it the right location for the center, which could bring 130 jobs to the city.
House Bill 150 passed the House 130-13 on April 16 and was referred Monday to the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce. It calls for the state's new cyber headquarters to be administratively attached to UTSA under a governor-appointed director.
Details about the center's location and timing are still unclear, but the University of Texas System has estimated start-up, staffing and operating costs for 2026.
Legislative budget documents show the command will cost $135.5 million through 2027. Over the next five years, it's expected to cost $345.2 million.
The UT system estimates it will cost $60.4 million to acquire and renovate a property, which would include installing secure facilities for handling sensitive information. It has committed that amount from its Permanent University Fund for the project. UT estimates it will need an additional $24 million for start-up and operating costs in 2026. Initial staffing calls for 65 full-time employees in 2026, growing to 130 the next year.
The new command will take some of the Texas Department of Information Resources' responsibilities to be the state's cybersecurity clearinghouse. It will head the state's cyber defense, education and training, threat intelligence monitoring, partnerships and collecting incident reports.
The bill calls for creating a digital forensics lab, cybersecurity incident response unit and a cybersecurity threat intelligence center to work with law enforcement agencies and provide guidance to the state's regional security operations centers.
The command will also provide a report about Texas' cybersecurity every two years. In its 2024 report, the Department of Information Resources said the state "must build on past efforts to prioritize investments in cybersecurity infrastructure, workforce development, and public-private collaboration."
Abbott had previously called San Antonio the "cybersecurity capital of the state of Texas," and there's data to back him up. With more than 17,000 people working in cyber and IT fields across the defense and civilian sectors, the city has the nation's second-largest concentration of cybersecurity experts in the country outside of Washington, D.C.
The Texas Cyber Command wouldn't be the only cybersecurity hub in San Antonio. Several federal entities including the Department of Defense and National Security Agency have large operations in the city.
Port San Antonio is the city's quickest-growing cyber hub with the Air Force and more than 15 government contractors working in the industry. It's also home to the $4 million Alamo Regional Security Operations Center that monitors computer systems across the city. Partners include CPS Energy, VIA, San Antonio Water System, area school districts and housing authorities.
UTSA also is gaining a national reputation for its cyber and computing programs. In July, Forbes ranked the university's cybersecurity degree as fifth in the nation.
UTSA's new College of AI, Cyber and Computing is opening this fall. It will expand on the School of Data Science that opened in January 2023 along with the $91.8 million National Security Collaboration Center at 506 Dolorosa St. downtown.
It also has the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute, or CyManII, the nation's only research institute focused on the cybersecurity of U.S. manufacturing as well as several university-led research centers focused on cyber threats and new technologies.
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