ND Guard Gets Funding For Intelligence HQ

A world of classified intelligence will soon have a new home in Fargo.

A new intelligence gathering mission for the North Dakota National Guard is outgrowing its current facilities after less than a year.
 
 The world is tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, thanks to NORAD’s Santa Tracker.

Here in North Dakota, the 119th Air Wing is leaving Santa duty to NORAD.

These soldiers have bigger concerns.
 
“Weapons systems, but we also do things to target communications or radars or software and that sort of thing,” explains North Dakota Senator John Hoeven. “So they’re involved in everything we do globally.”
 
An intelligence mission designed to target and eliminate enemy threats started this year. In order to continue, Senator Hoeven says soldiers need a secure space.
 
“They obviously need a secure facility, so our opponents and adversaries
can’t hack into our cyber-security, our facilities,” he adds.
 
He helped secure $7.3 million for a new National Guard Headquarters at Hector International Airport, with a secure site for sensitive data. The guard has had facilities at the airport for 68 years.
 
“Anything that can improve the function or the ability of the North Dakota National Guard is great”, says Airport Authority Director Shawn Dobberstein. “The men and women over there have done extraordinary things and continue to do extraordinary things to protect our country.”
 
The new building will help the Guard expand its mission, and bring about 70 more intelligence gathering jobs to Fargo.
 
Hoeven adds, “These are high-tech jobs for young people that are really sharp on technology.”

The new building should be ready for the Guard by 2017.