00:00Well, good afternoon and welcome to UTSA and to our National Security Collaboration Center.
00:08I'm Taylor Amy, and I'm the lucky guy that gets to be the president of UT San Antonio
00:12and the acting president of UT Health San Antonio.
00:16And it will be obvious to all of you that I'm also very lucky as a Roadrunner fan
00:21because our men's baseball team is headed off to Los Angeles for the Super Regionals.
00:30After, I'm going to say this really well, after having swept the competition in Austin.
00:40You know we had to level there.
00:41What's not to like about that if you're a Roadrunner?
00:44So it's a real honor and a privilege for UTSA and UT System to host this historic bill signing today
00:52to establish the Texas Cyber Command, the first of its kind nationally
00:57and slated to be the best in class.
01:01Today's announcement about establishing the Texas Cyber Command for our great state of Texas
01:05is fully the innovative creation of our governor, Greg Abbott.
01:11Governor Abbott made this legislation an emergency priority for his session here in the 89th legislative session,
01:19and it's very fitting that he is here in San Antonio on this last day of the session to sign HB 150 into law.
01:27The advocacy for and collaboration by the two bill sponsors, Senator Tan Parker and Representative Giovanni Capriglione,
01:35was so important to getting us here today, and I want to thank both of them for their continued engagement
01:41and for our working together as we go forward with this effort, and your leadership was immense.
01:49I also want to extend my gratitude to Mandy Crawford and her team at DIR for their work with us to craft the command concept.
01:58They have been excellent and supportive partners.
02:00Thank you, Mandy.
02:01Our federal partners here today reflect the powerful cybersecurity ecosystem that exists in San Antonio.
02:08Without any other statements about this, it's very fair to say that outside of Washington, D.C.,
02:17the very epicenter of excellence related to cybersecurity is here in the city of San Antonio,
02:24and it's a unique ecosystem that we have here, and it's a perfect host for the Texas Cyber Command.
02:30I am really grateful that NSA Texas, the 16th Air Force, Army North, the Secret Service, the FBI, and DHS Cyber and Information Security,
02:42all of our colleagues in those agencies are here with us today to support the standing up of this new command.
02:49We have wonderful working relationships with all of our federal partners,
02:53and they're here for a reason and purpose to support this success of the launch of Texas Cyber Command.
03:00So we're very excited about that.
03:02I also want to say thank you to my UTSA and UT System colleagues, Dave Brown, Jason Ellis, Jason King, Jason Hasse,
03:11and Julia Rathgeber for their hard work over these last many months in crafting the concept for the command.
03:18They work very closely with the office of the governor, with DIR, with the staffs of Senator Parker and Representative Capriglione,
03:26and with Senate and House elected officials and committee staff to get us here today.
03:32I also want to reiterate that UT System stands ready to support the command.
03:38Governor, we are excited to collaborate with you to bring the command into existence to serve the needs of our great state of Texas,
03:45and I want to turn the program over to you now, sir.
03:48Thank you very much.
03:56Well, first let me start out by thanking Dr. Amy for your kind words, but also thank you for your leadership here.
04:03It's essential that we advance higher education at all different kinds of levels,
04:07and you are truly excelling at what you're doing here at UTSA.
04:11I also want to pass on my congratulations on UTSA winning the Men's Regional College Baseball Series in Austin, Texas.
04:22Yeah.
04:24In recognition of their incredible victory, and to the students of UTSA, I wore the tie in my closet that was the closest to UTSA government.
04:42Thank you, Governor.
04:43Thank you, Governor.
04:44Thank you, Governor.
04:45Thank you, Governor.
04:46Also, I want to also thank for the leadership of Senator Parker and Representative Capricleone.
04:52We wouldn't be here today, but for their leadership of understanding and buying into and advancing this very important initiative in the state of Texas.
05:00So thank you for your leadership.
05:01Thank you, Governor.
05:02Thank you, Governor.
05:03Thank these members also.
05:04This is, if not all, pretty much close to a meaningful part of the San Antonio contingent in the Texas House of Representatives.
05:11Thank you all for being here, and thank you for supporting this very important legislation.
05:14I also want to thank several leaders with us here today.
05:21There's a lot, and we can't list them all, but there are two people who are involved, in a way, in emergency response for the state of Texas all the time.
05:30One is Chief Nimkid.
05:32There you go.
05:33Chief Nimkid.
05:34Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, whose responsibility is to respond to emergencies, even if there is an emergency, such as a cybersecurity attack.
05:49Also, we have the director, Colonel Freeman Martin, from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
05:56Freeman, thank you very much for your leadership.
05:58And I, too, want to thank Mandy Crawford, a person with whom I've worked with about for 20 years now.
06:09It's been a great run.
06:11Thank you for your leadership and everything that you're doing at DIR for the state of Texas.
06:15One thing that brings us here is an unfortunate reality, and that is that our state is under constant attack by cyber criminals, attacks that occur thousands of times every single second of every single day.
06:35Attacks that often come from foreign actors, from hostile countries like China, Russia, and Iran.
06:44And they have successfully attacked cities, counties, and government agencies across our state, all the way from Mission, Texas, and South Texas, up to Muleshoe, Texas, up in the Panhandle, and communities large and small in between.
07:00They endanger law enforcement agencies, healthcare centers, our power grid, our water system, oil fields, and financial centers.
07:11Those dangers loom even larger with the acceleration of artificial intelligence and the way that it can be used to enhance cyber attacks.
07:22One expert recently said that the recent attack on Good Friday of this year in Abilene, Texas was a wake-up call.
07:30Another expert said that Texas has become a target of cyber attacks due to the lack of investment in cyber protection.
07:38That changes today.
07:41I'm signing a law that creates the Texas Cyber Command.
07:44It is an historic investment of $135 million by the state, and again, thank you, Senator and Representative, for getting that done.
07:53It also may involve in the future a meaningful investment from the University of Texas system, and it's going to be headquartered right here in San Antonio, Texas.
08:10Cyber Command's ultimate mission is to prevent and to protect against cyber breaches.
08:16They will launch a cyber threat intelligence center to identify and repair weaknesses in state and local government systems.
08:23And they will work to train and educate users about preventing cyber breaches.
08:28They will coordinate with governments on swift and effective responses to cyber attacks.
08:34And they will collaborate with local, state, and federal partners to establish the gold standard for cybersecurity.
08:42It is these partners that are referenced that brings Texas Cyber Command to San Antonio.
08:51It's been said that San Antonio has the second largest concentration of cyber expertise in the United States of America.
08:58Those experts include those listed by Dr. Amy, but they deserve to be said again.
09:04They include the 16th Air Force Cyber Mission, the FBI, the NSA, the Secret Service, United States Army, Department of Homeland Security, and Southwest Texas Fusion Center.
09:15They are joined by UTSA, widely recognized as one of the preeminent institutions in America for dealing with cybersecurity.
09:27Their bachelor's degree in cybersecurity is ranked among the very best in the United States.
09:33They lead the state, as far as I'm aware, in cybersecurity bachelor degrees awarded.
09:38And I think that UTSA has the most students enrolled in cyber programs of any university in the state of Texas.
09:47That's correct.
09:48Getting affirming nods from Dr. Amy.
09:50To say the least, UTSA has planted a flag and established itself and put in the work to elevate what they've done
10:02to address cybersecurity.
10:04There could be no more fitting location.
10:07But the combination of all these assets fighting one of the most vicious and constant crimes we deal with every single day,
10:16and working together with the Texas Cyber Command, they will put Texas on a path to be a national leader in cybersecurity.
10:55I have to take this style of signing up.
11:11It takes a long time.
11:19The Texas Cyber Command is now the law of the state of Texas.
11:25Thank you very much.
11:33Thank you, Doctor.
11:34And now, State Representative Kirk Leone.
11:37Hi.
11:38Thank you, Governor.
11:39First, I do want to thank you, Governor, for your vision on working on this program.
11:44I want to thank, obviously, your trust in Senator Parker and I in being able to carry this forward.
11:49I thank, obviously, President Amy and everyone here at UTSA.
11:53It was just over seven years ago that we had our very first House Select Committee on Cybersecurity right here at UTSA.
12:01And the reason is obvious.
12:02And since that time, UTSA has only grown in recognition and honor and skill in being the center of cybersecurity excellence, not just in Texas, but in the entire country.
12:12And as you mentioned, every single day there's millions of attacks on our constituents.
12:17It's coming from foreign actors.
12:19It's coming from domestic actors as well.
12:22And this is a great hindrance to not only our ability to have business, be able to do what they're doing, but it's also affecting public safety.
12:29So what this bill is going to do is going to be a one-stop place where we're going to be able to have a focus on protecting our constituents and protecting our businesses from all of these attacks.
12:39And so I'm just thankful that we're able to get this done.
12:42I'm really glad that today's the last day of session as well.
12:45And that we're here.
12:46So thank you.
12:51And now Senator Tan Parker.
12:54Thank you, Governor.
12:55Well, what a tremendous honor to be here today in San Antonio.
12:58I want to thank you, Governor, for your leadership, for making this an emergency item.
13:02I want to thank Dr. Amy.
13:04I want to thank all the incredible leaders in this room.
13:06Mandy Crawford has done an incredible job running DIR for years.
13:10I want to thank our great leaders in emergency response and Chief Nim Kidd again and Colonel Freeman Martin.
13:16These are the very best in the business.
13:18And we wouldn't be here today.
13:20We wouldn't be Texas without their leadership.
13:22This is an exceptional once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Texas to lead not just our state, but to lead the country forward.
13:30We all know the future of a strong America is a strong Texas that stands up and leads in every area.
13:37And we are doing just that with establishing Cyber Command here today in the great city of San Antonio.
13:43I couldn't be more excited.
13:45The one issue that keeps me up most at night, and I know the Governor feels the same way as does Representative Capriglione, is the safety and survival of 31 million Texans every day.
13:56And this is an enormous step forward in protecting their safety and security.
14:01It is the foundational piece.
14:03Every other liberty, freedom, and blessing that we have has to be built upon a foundation of security.
14:10And this security will take care of our families.
14:12It will take care of our businesses.
14:14It will take care of our citizens.
14:16And we are extraordinarily blessed because of the Governor's leadership to be here today.
14:20So, again, I want to thank Governor Abbott.
14:22I want to thank the Lieutenant Governor.
14:23I want to thank my colleagues in the Senate.
14:25I want to thank my colleagues in the House for getting us to this point here today.
14:29But it's a great day for Texas, a great day for the country when it comes to addressing the challenges that our adversaries pose to Texas each and every day.
14:38We can never forget that, that the adversaries that we face are extraordinarily real.
14:43These attacks on our infrastructure every day are incredibly real.
14:48And Texas must lead in cyber and AI and quantum, all these critical areas because they are the future.
14:56They are the space race of today and are critical for us to be driving innovation in this state to protect our nation as a whole.
15:04And so, again, what an honor to be here with all of you.
15:07Thank you again, Governor, for your leadership in all of this.
15:09Thank you both.
15:13With that, we'll be happy to take a few questions.
15:18Or not.
15:21All right, everyone is still impressed with that baseball victory last night, overcoming that late night.
15:27Congratulations again to UTSA, but congratulations to the House and Senate for getting this bill across the finish line to my desk,
15:35making law the Texas Cyber Command.
15:38Congratulations.
15:40Thank you for having me.
15:43Thank you for having me.
15:44Thank you for having me.
15:52And this is for you.
15:54Thank you, sir.
15:56It's a real pleasure.
15:57It's a real viral pleasure.
16:00Very proud.
16:07If you've been keeping up with the news, you've been seeing a lot of these videos of the immigration
16:13arrest here in San Antonio.
16:15This has become viral.
16:16I was just wondering if you have an opinion on the work that's going on here.
16:21Do you have an opinion whether you think that we're moving in the right direction of what
16:25we're doing?
16:26So what I've been told is that a large majority of those who've been arrested have criminal
16:36records.
16:37President Trump has been very clear about several things.
16:41One is that anybody who is here illegally and has a criminal record, they're going to be
16:46identified, apprehended, and returned to whatever country they came from.
16:51Several other things that he's made clear.
16:53One is that he's not going to allow illegal immigration to occur anymore.
16:58Second, those who are here illegally are subject to being apprehended and deported.
17:04Third, that's why they established the self-deportation program that many people have already undertaken
17:08themselves to avoid situations like what occurred.
17:12President Trump was elected first and foremost to do something about the broken illegal immigration
17:19catastrophe that was caused by Joe Biden.
17:22never in the history of the country or the world have we had what was caused by Joe Biden.
17:31More than 11 million people were allowed in illegally into the United States, many of whom killed,
17:40murdered our fellow Americans, raped our fellow Americans, committed other crimes in the United States of America.
17:48America.
17:49The president made clear he wants to put an end to that.
