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ND National Guard sets up units to help state agencies, businesses defend against cyberattacks

FARGO -- In the near future, North Dakota businesses and government agencies victimized by computer viruses and other cybersecurity threats may be able to turn to the National Guard, according to the state's adjutant general.

Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann, North Dakota adjutant general
Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann, North Dakota adjutant general

FARGO - In the near future, North Dakota businesses and government agencies victimized by computer viruses and other cybersecurity threats may be able to turn to the National Guard, according to the state's adjutant general.

"The one thing we know about cyber is you can't just be worried about your network," Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann told a Chamber of Commerce audience Tuesday, July 11, at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Moorhead. Anything that threatens one network can easily spread to another network, he said.

To that end, the Army National Guard has created two Bismarck-based units, he told The Forum, though he hopes someday there could be one in the Red River Valley to be closer to the two research universities and Microsoft's second biggest campus, which is in Fargo.

The units wouldn't engage in cyberwarfare, he said. "We're talking defense here, but sometimes you gotta be - you have to have what you call an 'active defense,' " he said. "You're out there searching for the potential problems and trying to stop them before they become a problem."

North Dakota and much of the United States has so far avoided serious cyberattacks such as those that struck Europe earlier this year, though several American firms, including hospitals near Pittsburgh and Merck, the New Jersey-based drugmaker, were affected, according to media reports.

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Dohrmann said he worries about North Dakota firms, including utilities, that use old Microsoft operating systems that may be more vulnerable to future attacks.

One of the Army Guard units he's working to establish is the Defensive Cyber Operations Element, which now has two members but will be a 10-member unit when fully staffed. Because it will not deploy like other Guard units, it'll be constantly available as part of the state's intelligence fusion center.

Dohrmann told The Forum the unit, which will focus primarily on the North Dakota National Guard's network, will be able to help other state agencies and private businesses. This could mean communicating potential threats or providing technical support, such as offering advice on ways to plug vulnerabilities, he said.

State lawmakers passed a law in the most recent session that allowed certain records to remain confidential, he said, which will encourage private firms to contact the state for help if they face a cyber attack.

The other Army Guard unit Dohrmann mentioned is the 174th Cyber Protection Team, a 39-member unit shared with South Dakota, Colorado and Utah. North Dakota has recruited the seven members required to be part of the unit and they are now in training. The need is such that they're already on alert to deploy in two years.

He expects that the 174th soldiers will return from deployment with "an incredible amount of experience and expertise" that they can share with the rest of the National Guard units.

These two units could just be the start.

The Air Force also has an interest in cybersecurity, which could result in a similar unit with the Air National Guard in Fargo, Dohrmann said. The state may require a full-time cyberdefense team, which could be a job for the Bismarck-based 81st Civil Support Team. The team now responds to weapons of mass destruction incidents.

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The general also talked with Chamber members about the challenge of recruiting, noting that it's especially difficult for the Army National Guard, which, unlike the Air Guard, usually must deploy to unpleasant locales.

"We have never not answered the call, we have never failed a mission," he said. "But what we end up having to to do is when a unit gets alerted for mobilization, we gotta go fill it with people from other units and now you've just broken this unit over here for the time being."

In the long run, that could convince the Pentagon to deactivate some units here and reactivate them in other states that have less trouble with recruitment, he said. That's how the North Dakota National Guard was downsized by about 400 members a couple of years ago, he said. "We need to be able to demonstrate that we can fill those units and be ready to go anytime."

So far, that hasn't been an issue with the two cybersecurity units, but he wondered what it will take to keep these highly trained soldiers if their experience allows them to easily earn six-figure salaries in the private sector without staying in the National Guards.

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