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State leaders want to make Hanscom Air Force Base the first line of defense against cyber attacks.
Gov. Deval Patrick toured the Bedford military installation today and touted a team that’s trying to convince the Air Force to set up its Cyber Command center here.
Massachusetts is competing with 17 other states for the headquarters facility, its estimated 550 jobs and its potential to spur expansion of the defense technology sector.
“We think we have a very strong and compelling case to make,” Patrick said during a press conference after meeting with Air Force Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds, commander of Hanscom’s Electronic Systems Center.
“Cyber Command is important to Massachusetts because it will help us to brand the state for the development and introduction of related cyber technologies which will lead to more economic development, job creation, with businesses making decisions to locate here based on the new headquarters presence,” Patrick said.
The Air Force announced plans for Cyber Command in November 2006 and will announce its final selection in September 2009. The governors of 18 states have been asked to make their case and answer a “data call” by July 1.
“This region has a lot of IT and cyber capability, in industry and academia,” said Donald Quenneville, a retired Air Force brigadier general who directs the Waltham-based Defense Technology Initiative, or DTI.
State officials believe they are ahead of the game because they are reassembling DTI, a group that worked to save Hanscom and Natick Labs from the Pentagon’s base-closing program in 2005.
“That is being re-energized,” said Rep. Jay Kaufman (D-Lexington), one of four towns that abut the base. “We have a well-established team.”
Another plus is that the Air Force’s Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom already serves as the technology acquisition arm for Cyber Command, whose provisional command is at Barksdale Air Force Base, La.
Hanscom’s work force totals about 8,000 people, including employees at the federally funded MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The base’s contracting totaled $4.27 billion last year, including $1.5 billion for Massachusetts companies, according to the Air Force.
The other states aiming for Cyber Command are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
“I honestly believe that we have everything that the Air Force is looking for - the infrastructure here at Hanscom, the technical base with (military research partners) Mitre Corp. and Lincoln Labs, and the human capital that we all recognize are necessary parts of the puzzle and indeed of the case to make this mission work,” Patrick said.
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