US enforcement agencies should target outreach to prevent university illicit transfers

A report by the US Government Accountability Office (‘GAO’) makes recommendations to US export control enforcement agencies, which, it says, could address the danger of foreign entities successfully obtaining sensitive information from US universities and other institutions, especially as regards China, which, it says, is seeking to ‘mine and exploit U.S. academia’s open knowledge system’.

The report says that while the agencies are all clear about the benefits of outreach to universities as a means of raising risk awareness, ‘Additional information about universities’ risks could enhance the agencies’ outreach efforts. For example, [the Department of Commerce] does not base its outreach on analysis of universities’ risk levels and has not identified any risk factors to guide its outreach priorities.’

The report’s authors also argue that ‘[The Department of Homeland Security] has ranked roughly 150 U.S. universities for outreach, and [the Federal Bureau of Investigation] provides information to all of its field offices to guide their outreach priorities; however, both agencies base these efforts on only one risk factor. Identifying and analyzing any additional relevant risk factors could provide a more complete understanding of universities’ risk levels and could further inform Commerce’s, DHS’s, and FBI’s efforts to target limited resources for outreach to at-risk universities.’

The full report, including recommendations, is at: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-105727.pdf