Colonel Luis Guimpel is director of Cyber Defense in the Argentine Army, and served as head of the cyber defense cell of the Multinational Force Command, during PANAMAX 2022. Dialogue talked with Col. Guimpel on his participation in this exercise that brought together 19 countries.
Dialogue: In what capacity was the exercise developed in the area of cyber defense?
Colonel Luis Guimpel, Director of Cyber Defense in the Argentine Army: Basically, my Department of the General Staff in PANAMAX 2022 coordinates all actions to detect and respond to cyberattacks that occur on the military forces and infrastructure of Nueva Centralia. [país ficticio creado para el ejercicio].
Dialogue: How does this compare to a real situation?
Cnel. Guimpel: It is exactly the same. We practice situations here as we would in real life.
Dialogue: Is there a real cyber defense exchange in such an exercise, like PANAMAX?
Cnel. Guimpel: Yes. In fact, an American major and senior petty officer, who are here working with me, in May [de 2022] They were in Argentina visiting our Cyber Defense Directorate, of which I am the director.
Dialogue: And how is Argentina doing in the area of cyber defense?
Cnel. Guimpel: Thank God we are very well, although with the budgetary restrictions of the moment. But we are organized and we generate material both at a strategic level and at an operational and tactical level.
Dialogue: What was the main lesson learned at PANAMAX 2022?
Cnel. Guimpel: The main lesson is interoperability, which is an easy word to say but difficult to achieve. The only way to achieve interoperability is to work together and practice together to achieve a common language, common procedures and common work systems, which if one expects real situations, then they cannot be realized. As far as cyber defense is concerned, which is my specific job, we belong to the Ibero-American Defense Forum. We are ten countries that meet every year, share experiences, doctrine and work methodologies. In this, Argentina is trying to advance with our own doctrine and our own material. We are generating tactical cyber defense material, and these types of exercises are good for sharing knowledge and ideas. That’s the important thing; the most important thing that one takes away from these types of exercises is interoperability.