Timothy James White has been appointed as chief of the newly established Texas Cyber Command (TCC). His term will expire Feb. 1, 2027.
In his new role, White will oversee the TCC’s operations to propel and advance the state’s cybersecurity initiatives, policies and posture. The command was a high-profile item during the 89th Legislative Session and was signed into law in June. White will be responsible for ensuring the command achieves its goals to leverage the cybersecurity expertise and resources of local, state and federal partners to protect Texas from an increasingly sophisticated cyberthreat landscape.
White is a retired vice admiral in the U.S. Navy and the founder of a cybersecurity consulting company. He is a professor-of-practice at the Naval Postgraduate School, is a trustee of the Southwest Research Institute and is affiliated with the Military Cyber Professionals Association. During his Navy service, White operated as commander of the US Fleet Cyber Command/US TENTH Fleet/US Navy Space Command and as commander of the US Cyber National Mission Force/USCYBERCOM. He formerly served as director of intelligence for the US Indo-Pacific Command.
As part of its efforts to achieve a safe and secure state cybersecurity posture by preventing and responding to incidents that impact governmental entities and critical infrastructure, the TCC will develop tools to:
- Enhance cyber defense.
- Facilitate education and training of the cyber workforce.
- Create cybersecurity standards.
- Establish partnerships to carry out its functions and operations.
Among its primary goals, the institution will establish a cybersecurity threat and intelligence center alongside an incident response unit to detect and remediate cybersecurity incidents. The TCC will also create a Digital Forensics Laboratory to coordinate with the response unit, developing procedures to preserve evidence of cyber attacks.
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