A Recent National Counterintelligence and Security Center Report Highlights Five Key Technologies Requiring Protection From Theft by Foreign Governments

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), which resides within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, published a report in October 2021 identifying five key technologies whose safeguarding it states is essential to America’s future economic development and national security.  The five areas are:  artificial intelligence, quantum information science and technology, biotechnology, microelectronics and semiconductors, and autonomous systems. 

The focus on protecting these five technology areas represents a refinement of the NCSC’s previous efforts to conduct outreach to industry and academia about the dangers of industrial espionage.  NCSC states that the outreach is also intended to provide educational resources about the ways to mitigate the risks industrial espionage poses.  Outreach to the private sector is a core, congressionally-directed mission of the NCSC. 

The outreach initiative described in the October 2021 NCSC report highlights the governments of Russia and China as the primary sources of concern because of what NCSC describes as the aggressive use of legal (for example, joint ventures and talent recruitment programs) and illegal (for example, foreign intelligence collection) means to acquire valuable science and technology knowledge and data. 

While the Russian and Chinese governments are the focus of NCSC’s concern, NCSC has said that the nascent outreach campaign is not intended to foreclose or stigmatize collaborations or partnerships with Russian or Chinese entities.  This change appears to be a response to criticism of past outreach efforts for creating a suspicious and unwelcoming environment in some instances.  In public remarks unveiling the new report, NCSC Director Michael Orlando emphasized that the NCSC is not advocating for a decoupling from the Chinese economy, and he noted that the NCSC acknowledges the critical importance of attracting talented foreign students and researchers to the United States.  Accordingly, the NCSC report focuses on providing practical tools and tips that institutions and individuals can use to ensure the protection of their research and the technologies that they develop.

It is likely that MIT faculty, students, and administrators will be contacted during the course of the NCSC’s new outreach campaign.  Those with questions or concerns may contact David Suski at dsuski@mit.edu or Matt Fucci at mfucci@mit.edu for advice and assistance.  As always, MIT continues to strongly support international collaborations across the global community.

The NCSC’s report may be found in its entirety here.