Texas Cyber Command Launched: Governor Abbott Ushers New Era in Cybersecurity

Texas Cyber Command Launched: Governor Abbott Ushers New Era in Cybersecurity

Summary

• Texas Cyber Command Is Law: Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 150 on June 2, 2025, creating the Texas Cyber Command.
• Strategic Location: It will be headquartered at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).
• What It Will Do: Protect state and local government systems, with a threat intelligence center, a digital forensics lab and an incident response unit.
• Increased Investment: The bill sets aside $135 million from the state’s General Revenue Fund through 2027.
• Collaboration Emphasis: The command will draw on UTSA’s partnerships with the NSA, FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

Abbott Signs the Bill in San Antonio

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill on June 2, 2025, creating the Texas Cyber Command, a new organization to protect state and local government systems from cyber threats. Abbott had declared the command an emergency item in his State of the State address in February. “Our state is under constant attack by cyber criminals, attacks that occur thousands of times every single second of every single day,” Abbott said. “Attacks often come from foreign actors from hostile countries like China, Russia, and Iran. They successfully attacked cities, counties, and government agencies in Texas, from Mission to Muleshoe. That changes today.”

Why San Antonio

It’s based at UTSA. San Antonio is a growing cybersecurity hub, home to the NSA’s Texas Cryptology Center and the U.S. 24th Air Force Cyber Command, as well as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Security, including UTSA. The city’s CyberSecurity Council says it has the second-largest concentration of cyber experts in the country.

What the Command Will Do

The command will run a cyber threat intelligence center to find and fix weaknesses in government systems and train state workers on preventing breaches. It will also include a digital forensics lab and an incident response unit.

Texas has seen the damage firsthand. In March, the city of Mission declared a state of emergency after a cyberattack, and the year before, Abilene suspended its public records law requirements after a disruptive attack.

Funding and Staffing

According to the bill, $135 million from the state’s General Revenue Fund will cover operations through 2027, including secure facilities, staffing and cyber programs. UTSA has committed $60.4 million for property and renovation, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The facility is expected to be running within 18 months, starting with 65 full-time staff and doubling by 2027.

Working with Federal Partners

It won’t work alone. The command will lean on UTSA’s existing ties to the NSA, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, which gives a brand-new state agency access to federal threat intelligence and training from its first day.

What It Means for Other States

Few states have tried this. Its success will depend on hiring enough skilled staff and on how well it supports cities and counties that lack their own security teams. For local governments in Texas, the command could mean faster help when an attack hits.

Frank Jones, CISSP

Frank Jones has loved computers from the age of 13. Frank got his hacking career started when he downloaded a war dialing program that he used to detect dial up modems in his hometown of Chicago. Frank Jones now works as a JAVA coder and cyber security researcher.