On September 24 Adjutant General of Pennsylvania Major General Mark J. Schindler, United States, visited the National Cyber Security Centre subsidiary, the Regional Cyber Defence Centre (RCDC) in Kaunas.
He met with Vice Minister of National Defence Margiris Abukevičius, Director of the National Cyber Security Centre Rytis Rainys, and Head of the Regional Cyber Defence Centre Colonel Romualdas Petkevičius for a discussion on the nearest work plans and agreed to strengthen the bilateral defence cooperation on cyber.
“The Regional Cyber Defence Centre is a joint initiative of Lithuania and the United States designed to fill the niche of practical cooperation on cyber defence, therefore the agreement we have come to today to mutually look for possibilities for a representative of the Pennsylvania National Guard to join our team already this year is crucial for strengthening the Centre activities,” says Col R. Petkevičius.
The Regional Cyber Defence Centre was opened in the summer earlier this year. Its area of focus is practical protection of critical infrastructure of countries in the region. RCDC activity encompasses three main areas: cyber threat analysis, arrangement of training exercises for critical infrastructure managers, and scientific research. Cybersecurity experts from Georgia and Ukraine are planned to join the Centre this October.
The National Defence System and the U.S. Pennsylvania National Guard (PANG) enjoy a longstanding close partnership. Numerous joint events, experience exchanges and military exercises have taken place over the 28 of cooperation. In 2020 a PANG team assisted the National Cyber Security Centre with ensuring cyber security of the parliamentary elections of the Republic of Lithuania.
