Fort Meade Garrison Commander Col. Tom Rickard joined Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, U.S. CyberCommand Commander Adm. Michael Rogers and Maryland Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Linda Singh, in officially breaking ground on the latest major construction project at Fort Meade.
Gov. Hogan was the keynote speaker at the event, which signified the commitment to build a state-of-the-art facility from which the Maryland National Guard’s 175th Cyberspace Operations Squadron will execute its mission.
“Today, we are bolstering Maryland’s leadership even further as we break ground on this much needed and much anticipated facility to support the state of Maryland and the cyber mission force,” said Hogan. “Now, it’s a unit [the 175th] of 284 individuals charged with the critical mission of protecting our country’s infrastructure against cyberattack.”
The new building is designed as a single-story, 9,000-square foot facility providing operational and command space for missions aligned to the state of Maryland, the National Security Agency and the United States Cyber Command, according to the Maryland National Guard. The 175th Wing Contracting Office is responsible for contract execution and administration of the project. Ritz Construction, of Maryland, will construct the $6.6 million facility, with POND of Norcross, Ga., as the principal architect and design-build partner.
The 175th Cyberspace Operations Squadron’s federal mission will be to defend and protect Air Force and U.S. critical infrastructure against cyberattacks and conduct cyber exploitation and attack operations; in addition, the 175th will execute their state mission, which is to be available to assist the state and local government agencies at the direction of the governor.
The construction project is scheduled for completion in the fall 2018.