Originally published Cloud Exchange 2025: National Guard Bureau’s Kenneth McNeill on integrating secure military capabilities into emergency response on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/cloud-computing/2025/06/cloud-exchange-2025-national-guard-bureaus-kenneth-mcneill-on-integrating-secure-military-capabilities-into-emergency-response/ at Federal News Network
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The National Guard’s Project Homeland — an initiative to integrate homeland defense into the Pentagon’s ambitious Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control framework — is bridging the gap between local emergency response and military support, ensuring the guard can respond effectively to crises that require Title 10 assistance.
The National Guard launched Project Homeland approximately five years ago after recognizing that homeland defense was missing from the Defense Department’s CJADC2 initiative, which aims to connect military assets across all domains in a single, integrated system, said Kenneth McNeill, the National Guard Bureau’s chief information officer.
The guard has since connected all 54 states and territories and Washington, D.C., through a common operating picture that enables real-time information sharing with its civilian partners, McNeill said.
Improving emergency response collaboration
Now, the guard is working to integrate secure military capabilities into that system, he said.
“The biggest priority is getting the secure Title 10 piece tied into our common operating picture that we have today. Having that capability that we can bolt on top to have not only your nonsecure capability that can talk with civilian first responders in state and local but having the federal piece tied in that is the priority, and that’s what we really feel good about,” McNeill said during Federal News Network’s Cloud Exchange 2025.
“As we communicate with our civilian first responders and share information, and [interact with] agencies like the Homeland Security Department or Federal Emergency Management Agency, we have to be able to operate in a nonsecure environment. But if we have Title 10 capabilities in a state that’s deployed — we need to be able to operate in a secure environment. Having multiple tools to get at data in both environments is crucial for the National Guard.”
McNeill said the guard has already made significant progress integrating with key partners such as U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During the presidential inauguration in January, as an example, the guard was able to connect Title 10 capabilities and its common operating picture, demonstrating real-time interoperability, he said.
“We are not 100% there, obviously, as technology changes rapidly, but I think we’re a lot closer today with that interoperability piece, working with our nonfederal partners and our federal partners,” McNeill said. “The tools are there. We’re in the acquisition process of actually purchasing the tools, and we’re working with the department and NORTHCOM to assist in that. We see in less than a year of having this capability from both sides.”
As Project Homeland evolves, state leaders view it as a solution to long-standing coordination challenges between local first responders and federal forces.
“States are dealing with civilian first responders every day as they’re called out to mission, but when they have to have the communications and the interoperability piece with federal capabilities and forces that would come in — that was a blind spot. Using the federal tools now will merge that. They are actually encouraging us to go faster,” McNeill said.
Introducing AI capabilities for proactive disaster response
A related initiative, known as Project Theia, is testing artificial intelligence tools for disaster prediction and response — such as wildfire modeling in California. Theia gathers video feeds and then runs AI models on them, providing first responders with clear and detailed depictions of disaster areas.
“That data is critical, and that’s the part of Project Homeland that would be tied into what we’re trying to do in the AI mission space,” McNeill said. “We still have a lot of work to do in that, but I think in the last two years, we’ve made significant progress with pilots looking at how we could continue to include artificial intelligence in our homeland mission when it comes to natural disasters and support to civilian first responders.”
Cybersecurity is at the heart of this future vision too.
“We really want to make sure that we get the security right. That is a key area that we focus on,” McNeill said. “We continue to work the AI piece, but we’re focused on the security aspect of it.”
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Originally published Cloud Exchange 2025: National Guard Bureau’s Kenneth McNeill on integrating secure military capabilities into emergency response on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/cloud-computing/2025/06/cloud-exchange-2025-national-guard-bureaus-kenneth-mcneill-on-integrating-secure-military-capabilities-into-emergency-response/ at Federal News Network
Originally published Federal News Network
