Year in the Guard -2023

Cyber Fortress 2.0 tests Virginia’s cyber response plan VIRGINIA

Virgin Islands Guard helps sustain exercise vibrant response VIRGIN ISLANDS

Approximately 95 Guardsmen and Reservists ensured cargo moved in and out of the joint operation area, provided base life support, coordinated movement of military air and other sustainment capa- bilities for the command post exercise, hosted by U.S. Army North on behalf of U.S. Northern Command. Within Vibrant Response, the three task forces, Joint Task Force-Civ- il Support, Task Force-46 and Task Force-76, test their ability to mobilize and travel by military air transportation, navigate military capabilities and readiness to respond to a chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear incident.

By Cotton Puryear Virginia National Guard Public Affairs Office | AUG. 10, 2023

By Bethany Huf U.S. Army Nort | MAY 3, 2023

The Virginia National Guard hosted Cyber Fortress 2.0 from July 10- 21, 2023, at the State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The exercise brought together state and federal organizations who will respond in a real-world cyber incident and provided an oppor- tunity to test Virginia’s cyber response plan and better prepare for future collective responses. “The cyber domain is one of the most complex we operate in across the whole of government and whole of industry, and almost every citizen has something tied to network operations,” said Maj. Gen. James W. Ring, the Adjutant General of Virginia. “We are working in the cyber domain on a routine basis, and what an exercise like Cyber Fortress should do is push us beyond the routine into the complex and get us to the point were it stresses our processes and institu- tions to determine how to mitigate the impacts of a potential cyber response situation.” He said it will be a combination of local, state and national respons- es as well as international, which coordination among commercial private partners, state and federal government and the military. “It is vital we build partner capacity through relationships and sharing best practices,” Ring said. “If you look in this room at the multi-agency and private sector partners along with the military, you can see there is unbelievable capacity to work cyber require- ments. We have to ensure we are not working in stovepipes of excellence and come together in a collaborative environment to continue to build trust as well as the critical partner capacity.” Ring joined state elected officials, state and federal technology ex- perts and public sector communication executives for distinguished visitor day July 20. As part of the VNG’s ongoing partnership with Finland, representatives from the Finnish Defence Forces also took part in the exercise and Ring recognized them for their contribu- tions and presented them with coins. This year’s exercises focused on a cyber attack on a major telecom mission partner with participation from public and private partners from the local, state and federal level, explained Col. Rusty McGuire, commander of the VNG’s Fort Belvoir-based 91st Cyber Brigade. For the first time, the exercise tested an actual cyber-attack on a tele- com training network located at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Jennings, Indiana. McGuire said the exercise was conducted in two phases. The first part involved decision makers participating in a tabletop exercise with the goal of testing the response of local, state and federal

CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. – Indiana is a long way from home base for Soldiers stationed with the 786th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Virgin Islands National Guard, and 512th Movement Con- trol Teams, 1 Mission Support Command. With temperatures falling below freezing, the Caribbean-based Soldiers ensured the exercise Vibrant Response carried on without failure. “Despite being far from home, these Soldiers demonstrated their ability to adapt to different environments and accomplish their units’ mission, despite challenging conditions,” said Maj. Troy Cat- terton, Army Reserve Engagement Cell, U.S. Army North. “The National Guard unit from the Virgin Islands plays a vital sus- tainment role supporting over 500 Soldiers in ensuring the success of Vibrant Response by providing logistical support, integrating Army Reserve elements into an Active-Duty exercise, as well as managing cargo movements, and coordinating various opera- tions,” he said.

The Caribbean-based Soldiers’ efforts allowed units to focus on their training objectives without worrying about food or a place to sleep.

“Our ability to contribute to the exercise underscores the impor- tance of collaboration and coordination among a wide range of resources during not only military exercises but also in disaster response efforts,” said Staff Sgt. Kavish Blaize, 786th CSSB. The exercise was the second consecutive Vibrant Response using multicomponent units from the National Guard and Army Reserve with Active-Duty troops. “Without the proper sustainment support and mission forecasting, military operations can degrade quickly as troops are unable to ac- cess resources needed to carry out their objectives,” said Catterton. “This utilization across all three Army components demonstrates the ability to work together seamlessly and effectively.”

resources to respond to a private critical infrastructure partner. The second phase of the exercise involved civilian private sector and National Guard cyber professionals conducting a force-on-force cyber exercise on a cyber range known as “PCTE.”

This is also the first year that cyber warriors executed Cyber For- tress on Army Cyber’s new training range known as PCTE.

“This is truly an outstanding exercise that puts our collective cyber incident response to the test,” McGuire said. “This year training was more realistic with the cyber warriors defending and attacking an actual network that controls a telecom infrastructure. Virginia is better prepared to respond to cyber-attack because of the profes- sionals collaborating at Cyber Fortress. We are thankful to all the public, private and interagency partners coming together for the good of the commonwealth.” Partner agencies involved in the exercise include the Army and Air National Guard, Army Reserve and Army Northern Command, state partners including the Virginia Department of Emergency Manage- ment, Virginia State Police and Virginia Fusion Center and federal partners including FEMA, FBI and U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastruc- ture Security Agency. “Cyber Fortress 2.0 is now the third of a series of state-level infra- structure protection exercises first focused on energy and transpor- tation, and now telecommunications,” explained Shawn Talmadge, VDEM State Coordinator of Emergency Management. “We know the threat is out there, but we have significant capacity to respond when needed. I applaud the Virginia National Guard for continuing to coordinate these exercises because it is essential we continue to coordinate between our local, state and federal partners to ensure a high state of readiness to support the private sector. From Virginia’s perspective, we need to look at how we build resiliency and capacity and leverage the whole of government approach to coordinate an effective response to potential threats.”

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