By Susan McCord Staff Writer
U.S. Reps. Rick Allen and Jody Hice announced Friday that they have secured passage of a spending bill amendment that increases funding for the second construction phase of the Cyber Instructional Facility at Fort Gordon.
The amendment increases funding from $70 million to $107 million by shifting funds from another military appropriation. Construction of the first phase, a $99 million project, is set to begin this year.
“U.S. Army Cyber Command’s transition to Fort Gordon is moving forward full steam ahead, and the construction of state-of-the-art facilities is required in order to facilitate this transition successfully and continue the tradition of training world-class, highly skilled cyber professionals,” Allen and Hice said in a statement.
The transition of Army Cyber Command from Fort Meade in Maryland to Fort Gordon was announced in 2013 and triggered Georgia’s decision last year to invest $100 million in the Georgia Cyber Center downtown.
Tom Clark, the director of the CSRA Alliance for Fort Gordon, said the Fort Gordon cyber campus will ensure “the warriors that are trained in the cyber field have the very best facilities and accommodations” so they can “fight and win on the modern battlefield.”
The cyber campus is one of 84 construction projects in the works at Fort Gordon, which has $1.6 billion in infrastructure improvements approved for construction through 2028, Clark said.
In June 2020, the Army Cyber Command headquarters, a three-star facility led by a lieutenant general, will locate on post, he said.
“The alliance and the community are so grateful for the championships of both Congressman Allen and Congressman Hice,” Clark said.
Their amendment was included with a group of 23 others and had bipartisan support. It falls under House Resolution 3055, a nearly $1 trillion spending bill for Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Labor and State department programs. The House voted to consider to measure Wednesday, with Allen and Hice joining all other Republicans in voting against it.
The bill includes a ban on border wall funding and faces an uphill battle to survive in its current form.