Hill Country Defense Alliance Board of Directors Secretary Tim Summerlin says their goal is to unite higher education, private enterprise and nonprofits of the greater Hill Country committed to use our regional grit, energy and resilience to seek solutions for issues of national defense and public safety, particularly in cybersecurity, remaining always nimble in responding to changing needs.

"We are a project in the making," he says.

"HCDA was created on paper in 2000, and after a lot of networking, research and planning, our board of directors started meeting in 2025. We qualified as a 501(c)(3), began recruiting membership, and in May of 2025 launched our first project, co-sponsoring with Schreiner University an invitation-only cybersecurity symposium for 45 attendees. This May we again teamed up on a similar event. Now we're asking, 'What can we be doing that's natural for us?' It's time for concrete accomplishment, time to move out and build membership." He says the Hill Country Defense Alliance works with the Dakota Defense Alliance and plans to coordinate efforts to link education, businesses and public service to enhance national defense and public safety.