A newly formed Defense Critical Infrastructure pilot task force, led by the West Virginia National Guard’s (WVNG) Army Interagency Training and Education Center (AITEC), completed a two-phase cyber defense exercise in September 2025, designed to prepare Guard members for real-world missions against cyber-attacks. The effort began with participation in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Liberty Eclipse exercise at Plum Island, New York, on Sept. 15, followed by a validation event hosted by the Marshall University Institute for Cyber Security (ICS) in Huntington, West Virginia, from Sept. 21–24.
This year’s exercise centered on training, certification, and validation of 24 National Guard participants from 10 states, narrowed down from 54 volunteers. Guard members from Hawaii, Minnesota, Virginia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Virginia integrated with interagency and utility partners in a live-grid cyber range environment at Plum Island, New York. The certification phase at Marshall University Institute for Cyber Security included participation from the 169th Cyber Protection Team of the Maryland National Guard assessing readiness for operational missions.
This is reflective of the WVNG’s long-standing practice of intimate collaboration with partners in academia, the local communities, and partner organizations. WVNG’s relationship with partners such as Marshall University and leaders in the local communities allows for realistic and qualitative experiences for everyone involved, ultimately strengthening the community.
“This is a national first,” said Maj. Gen. Jim Seward, Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard. “The National Guard Bureau’s decision to select the WVNG and AITEC to lead this task force proves the unmatched expertise of our Soldiers and Airmen and their critical role in safeguarding the nation’s most vital systems.”
Partners included the National Guard Bureau, Department of Energy, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Marshall University Institute for Cyber Security, the Army Research Lab (ARL), and commercial innovation partner CMI2. Together this demonstrates how military and civilian expertise can converge to deliver innovative cyber defense solutions for Defense Critical Infrastructure.
“If we do this right, and if we are able to scale this across the nation, the Guard will do more than any other organization to deny terrain to our adversaries,” said attendee Maj. Gen. Ronald W. Burkett, II, the Director of Operations and Logistics, NGB-J3/4.
“To your whole team, thank you for answering the Nation’s Call,” said Burkett. “It really is that important. Maj. Gen. Seward, I wouldn’t be able to do the pilot program without you.”
These National Guard members are embedded in the communities across our nation, leveraging citizen and military backgrounds, and are better postured to assist when the need arises within the community. Ultimately this multi-state pilot task force will assist with DCI efforts in specific Combatant Commands. The broader goal is expansion of these capabilities to additional states and territories, integrating them into future operations, advancing the nation’s resilience against cyber threats.
Seward highlighted the broader impact:
“The National Guard Bureau’s decision to select West Virginia and AITEC to lead this task force underscores the trust in our expertise. Throughout our nation’s history West Virginians and the WVNG continually answered the call during times of war and times of peace. What we are building here will shape how cyber defense is carried out across the country.”
There is really the only organization in the inventory of the National Guard that has a full-time active duty brigade headquarters that conducts operations across the globe, already works with management agencies such as CISA and the Dept, of Homeland Security, and has the capabilities within their state to facilitate the training and certification of people doing this mission as a core function - and that is AITEC.
“AITEC is a one-of -one capability that exists nowhere else in the nation, that just seems purpose built to do things like this,” said WVARNG Master Sgt. Charles Weissenborn, a cyber expert who helped develop the training.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2025 10:25 |
| Story ID: | 550501 |
| Location: | CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 56 |
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This work, West Virginia National Guard Leads First-Ever Multi-State Cyber Defense Critical Infrastructure Pilot Exercise, by Erica Bodker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
