Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger issued Executive Directive 6, ordering a Commonwealth-wide cyberattack prevention and response plan, a cross-sector Cyber Consortium, recurring briefings with AI companies and researchers, and assessment of AI cyber preparedness and recursive self-improvement risks.
Why it matters: The directive converts recent agent incidents into concrete state coordination work across emergency management, agencies, universities and critical infrastructure, even though it does not yet impose a private-sector compliance regime.
Virginia Executive Order 22 immediately bars executive-branch nondisclosure agreements for new commercial data-center projects, removes new facilities at or above 25 MW from state site-readiness and expedited-review programs, orders environmental and grid work, and creates a rapid-response AI Task Force and policy unit for workforce, privacy and cybersecurity risks.
Why it matters: The order changes the state-level approval and incentive path in the largest U.S. data-center market while creating a standing government mechanism for AI-risk proposals. Operators, utilities and communities now have concrete transparency, siting,…