WAnited States Senate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 April 29, 2015 Lieutenant General Stanley E. Clarke III Director, Air National Guard 1000 Air Force Pentagon, $C1052 Washington, DC 20330-1000 Dear Lieutenant General Clarke, ‘We write today to reiterate our request that you strongly consider the Virginia Air National Guard at Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) for an Air Force Space Command Cyber Operations ‘Squadron (COS). Last week, we leamed that the Air Force realigned forces associated with the B-1 away from Air Combat Command at JBLE to place them with other long-range bombers under one command, at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. The Air Force made this decision to maximize its stewardship of a critical mission. For the same reason, we believe IBLE makes sense as a location for the Air National Guard’ critical cyber mission. An April report by the Partnership for Public Service said the federal government is poorly positioned to recruit cyber personnel and has a weak pipeline of talent. We believe that locating a cyber squadron at JBLE would mitigate a number of the factors that contribute to the workforce problem. Virginia is home to seven higher-education institutions recognized by NSA as Centers of Academic Excellence, and JBLE is within a four-hour drive of ten such institutions. Additionally, Virginia and Hampton Roads are home to the top defense and technology ‘companies in the country ~ many of which are already supporting the eyber mission for national security As we stated in our December 2014 letter to you, we believe Hampton Roads provides a ‘compelling combination of affordability, high-quality public education, and quality of service for the airmen and civilians who will execute the cyber mission. JBLE has a highly skilled workforce, existing training and security infrastructure to support the COS. We continue to believe cybersecurity is a key national security concern and would be proud to host the COS in Virginia. We thank you for your consideration as you work to reach your decision this summer. Sincerely, a? MARK R. WARNER TIM KAINE United States Senator United States SenatorDEF fhe tea J. RANDY FORBES ROB WIT’ Member of Congress Member of Congress ‘GERALD E. CONNOL} Member of Congress