FIRST ON FOX: Texas becomes testing ground for new defense against attacks on America’s water systems

FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration is launching "Project Watershed 250" Monday, Fox News Digital exclusively learned, deploying American artificial intelligence and cybersecurity tools to protect Texas water systems from cyberattacks in a pilot the administration plans to scale nationwide.

"Project Watershed 250 is another example of President Trump putting American families and communities first.

President Trump is relentless in his work to secure our critical infrastructure against our most determined adversaries," National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross told Fox News Digital.

"President Trump has cemented America’s leadership in AI security and innovation and is now bringing those exquisite tools to local communities and utilities in Texas and ultimately, across the nation through the launch of Project Watershed 250 – a scalable cyber water pilot program." The Trump administration is bringing federal, state and private-sector cyber defenses together in a six-month Texas pilot aimed at finding vulnerabilities in water systems before adversaries can exploit them — while testing whether the model can be expanded across the country.

INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE IRANIAN HACKERS ARE LIKELY BEHIND CYBERATTACK ON MINNESOTA WATER SYSTEMS: REPORT The program will connect Texas water utilities with U.S. cybersecurity companies to test their existing defenses and strengthen vulnerable systems using private-sector cyber and artificial intelligence tools , a White House official told Fox News Digital.

The program will use "red-teaming" to stress-test water utilities’ networks, identify weaknesses hackers could exploit and then strengthen those systems with cybersecurity tools, according to a White House official.

TRUMP LAUNCHES GOLD EAGLE TO HUNT CYBER FLAWS WITH AI Dragos CEO Robert Lee said that U.S. water infrastructure faces active, documented threats, particularly at small utilities that often lack strong cybersecurity defenses.

Lee said Watershed 250 will help get technology, training and support to those vulnerable systems before an attack occurs.

"There is nothing more important to Texans than clean, reliable drinking water.

Project Watershed 250 puts federal, state, and private-sector cyber defenses behind our utilities at no cost.

The White House, the Texas Cyber Command, and industry now work from the same playbook," said Texas Gov.

Greg Abbott.

A White House official, however, said the program is not in response to recent cyberattacks that targeted more than 30 Minnesota water systems, though the incidents underscored vulnerabilities in local infrastructure.

"However, these recent attacks have reiterated the need for this modernization and focus on water systems," said the White House official.