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16th Air Force airmen in the 616th Operations Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The operations center is 16th Air Force\u2019s Information Warfare Command and Control unit consisting of experts in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electromagnetic spectrum, cyber and information operations.<\/p>\n
Sharon Singleton\/16th Air Force<\/p>\n
Defense Secretary Pete\u00a0Hegseth\u2019s Pentagon shakeup, which has already gutted two Army headquarters<\/a> in San Antonio, has led the Air Force to scuttle a plan to elevate the status of its cyber and intelligence hub on Lackland Air Force Base.<\/p>\n A pending decision on the plan had been cited as a reason for delaying consideration of Port San Antonio\u2019s proposal to build the unit a new $1 billion-plus facility<\/a> to replace its crumbling 71-year-old headquarters.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While no missions or people will leave San Antonio because of the decision against elevating\u00a0Air Forces Cyber<\/a> into a so-called component command, it leaves the information warfare hub\u00a0\u2014 and its 4,850 local workers\u00a0\u2014 wondering if it will get new facilities for work that\u2019s important to national security. The current headquarters is plagued with troubled heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, shifting floors and cracked walls.<\/p>\n The move could have brought a more senior commander, additional jobs and cut out a layer of bureaucracy between its leaders and the service\u2019s top brass.<\/p>\n RELATED:<\/strong>Air Force grapples with future of its San Antonio-based cyber war headquarters<\/a><\/p>\n Despite the delays and policy questions, the head of Port San Antonio remains undeterred in his vision to create a new home for Air Forces Cyber, also known as 16th Air Force,\u00a0on the Southwest Side tech campus. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A conceptual rendering of a 16th Air Force campus proposed at Port San Antonio. At far left, the existing Boeing Center at Tech Port can be seen. At center right in white is what the Port is now calling Innovation Tower, a new office building it\u2019s working to develop.<\/p>\n Port San Antonio<\/p>\n \u201cThese things will eventually work themselves out,\u201d Jim\u00a0Perschbach, Port San Antonio\u2019s president and CEO, said last month. \u201cFrom our perspective, it doesn\u2019t really impact us.\u201d<\/p>\n The port, he said, is ready to build a new cyber campus for the military in whichever form it may take. But the back and forth has only slowed the notoriously slow processes to get new military infrastructure. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0READ MORE:<\/strong>Port San Antonio snubbed: Abbott vetoes $50M for military cyber campus<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The shift is another effect of Trump administration policy changes under\u00a0Hegseth\u2019s defense department that are impacting Texas.<\/p>\n Last month, the Army said most of its soldiers and civilians working at Army North and Army South on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston would be leaving for Fort\u00a0Bragg, North Carolina, as part of a reorganization creating a new Western Hemisphere Command.<\/p>\n 22 months<\/p>\n Since at least February 2024,\u00a0Perschbach has been pitching the idea to use a public-private partnership with the Pentagon to build a campus for\u00a0Air Forces Cyber and its partner agencies on the site formerly known as Kelly Air Force Base.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He\u2019s said, and Texas elected officials have appeared to agree, that the plan to use an intergovernmental support agreement to fund and construct the facility could save taxpayers as much as $1.4 billion on a new headquarters.<\/p>\n Jim Perschbach, president and CEO of Port San Antonio, speaks during a panel discussion about the future of mobility.<\/p>\n Jessica Phelps\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n The Air Force was interested, discussing the matter at meetings in Washington\u00a0and responding in writing to Texas congressmen last August that it expected to complete its review that November. \u00a0<\/p>\n CYBERCITY USA:<\/strong>Texas Cyber Command setting up temporarily at UT San Antonio\u2019s downtown campus<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n At the time, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez warned the Air Force to decide quickly, saying \u201cthe time for waiting is over,\u201d likely an effort to get it done before the Trump administration would shakeup policies from the Biden era.<\/p>\n \u201cThe men and women performing one of the nation\u2019s most important missions deserve an updated work environment and time is of the essence,\u201d the San Antonio Republican said at the time. \u201cI \u2026 worry the Air Force\u2019s ongoing organization restructure will delay their strategic plan for future installations, thus leaving the decision in limbo for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n But November 2024 came and went with discussions halted amid the decision-making doldrums before a new administration took over.<\/p>\n The Air Force had remained mum on a new Air Forces Cyber campus since President Donald\u00a0Trump took office a year ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Earlier last year, Texas lawmakers tried to sweeten the deal with the promise of $50 million to help fund construction of the campus if the military agreed to move it to the port.\u00a0Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed that proposal<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Caught in the middle<\/p>\n Looming in the background of discussions over the future of the 16th Air Force is a larger debate on the future of how the military organizes its cyber forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of War Pete\u00a0Hegseth speaks to senior military leaders in September at Marine Corps Base\u00a0Quantico.<\/p>\n Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Congress has mandated a study into creating a new military branch focused on cyber but at least two former leaders of U.S. Cyber Command have argued that would take too long, create unnecessary bureaucracy and confusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Former spy agency chief retired Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, said reforms to the military\u2019s cyber forces rolled out by Hegseth last year need more time. He was sacked from his job as head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command in April after far-right conspiracy theorist<\/a> Laura Loomer recommended his ouster to\u00a0Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n CYBER DRAMA:<\/strong>Trump fires spy chief with San Antonio ties after Laura Loomer meeting<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe should start with the steps that can be done aggressively with the least cost and the most rapid return,\u201d he said in testimony to the National Academies\u2019 committee conducting the study, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. \u201cWe want to be focused on producing more tooth and not focused on growing bureaucracy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Hegseth\u2019s rejiggering of Pentagon policies also led the Air Force to abandon much of its\u00a0Biden-era plan to reorganize<\/a> the force to be better prepared for war against Russia or China. Some of the decisions were implemented but many remained to be carried out.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n US Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh testifies during a 2024 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing in Washington.<\/p>\n MANDEL NGAN\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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