The United Nations High Commission for Global Science and Technology

The United Nations High Commission for Global Science and Technology has initiated an exchange program to promote globalization in science and technology. With the assistance of member nations, it has forged agreements with research universities in the United States, Europe and Asia and with universities in developing nations to exchange scholars in a wide variety of scientific and technological fields. The U.S. Departments of State and Commerce support this program and are providing funding and other assistance. The program’s first phase calls for 400 scientists and technologists from developing nations to come to the United States. The countries involved in this first wave of exchanges are China, Russia, Indonesia, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Poland, Czech Republic, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States.
CIA, NSA and FBI reporting advise that some of these countries plan to use this program to acquire sensitive technology (classified and unclassified) through clandestine means when in the United States. These nations have also prepared a number of their scientists to approach vulnerable U.S. scientists and researchers while they are in the United States. Additionally, they have also tasked their intelligence services to identify and recruit American scientists who will be traveling to their countries to work in research universities there.

The research programs the foreign scientists will be working in are funded by a variety of sponsors including corporations in the private sector, the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). None of the programs are classified; however, some involve “Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)” and others involve unclassified subjects such as development of advanced energy sources, public health, robotics, sensor technology, nanotechnology, and global climate research.
Many of the unclassified projects that are under contract to corporations have information that qualifies as trade secrets under the Economic Espionage Act. Each university also has substantial DOD and DOE classified research contracts. Although the foreign scientists will not be working in the classified programs, many of the U.S. university personnel who will be working with the foreign scientists also work in classified programs.
Another concern is that “pre-classified” information will be lost to the foreign scientists. Pre-classified information is theoretical research for which a practical application has been not found in classified areas. Once this occurs it becomes classified. Prior to this if it is acquired the Espionage Act does not apply and, if it is not a trade secret, neither does the Economic Espionage Act.
The U.S. Department of State hopes that projects like this that expose key citizens of these nations to American institutions and culture will help moderate any adversarial tendencies on the part of their nation’s political leadership.

Develop a strategy to coordinate counterintelligence (CI) activities of parties that will be affected by an international scientific exchange program detailed below. The program calls for an exchange of graduate and post-graduate personnel at research universities located 14 nations. This program creates potential for foreign government intelligence organizations and others to illegally acquire classified and other legally restricted information.
Specifically address the following:
1. The threat – Identify who poses the threat and what espionage techniques are likely to be used. Support your conclusions.
2. Strategy to counter the threat – Develop a strategy to coordinate CI activities of the (1) appropriate government agencies, (2) relevant corporations in the private sector, and also (3) research universities together with their security departments that have local law enforcement power. Clearly explain responsibilities of each.
a. Identify the appropriate government agencies (you may treat the corporations and universities separately as general categories for the purpose of this problem).
b. Identify obstacles and constraints – explain how they can be overcome.
c. Include suitable offensive and defensive CI approaches and describe that CI tradecraft that may be used.
d. Consider both domestic and foreign implications, as U.S. citizens will be traveling abroad under this program.
e. Establish performance measures for each government agency and also for the corporations and the universities.
3. Your paper should be no more than 3,000 words, double spaced, using ‘Times New Roman’ 12-point font.