University’s counterintelligence work earns federal award

For the second time in five years, Virginia Tech has been recognized by a federal agency for its prominent role in the nation’s counterintelligence efforts. 

In June, the university was among five out of more than 10,000 eligible organizations in the United States to receive the 2023 Jack Donnelly Award for Excellence in Counterintelligence. Given out annually by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, the award recognizes companies and institutions with the best counterintelligence results and cooperation in support of the U.S. government’s efforts to detect and stop foreign entities from stealing national security information. 

“This award is validation that what we’re doing matters and is working,” said John Talerico III, director of the Office of Export and Secure Research Compliance and university facility security officer. “Our processes are not only helping to protect our personnel and intellectual property, but ultimately helping to protect our country.”

Virginia Tech previously received this award, then called the Award for Excellence in Counterintelligence, in 2018 and twice earned the Defense Counterintelligence and Security’s other prestigious award – the James S. Cogswell Award for Outstanding Industrial Security – in 2016 and 2020.

“We have worked hard to earn a national reputation for our universitywide commitment to supporting the counterintelligence community,” said Dan Sui, Virginia Tech’s senior vice president and chief research and innovation officer. “This award further reflects that as well as our robust security and counterintelligence programs and deep collaborations with government partners.”

The Donnelly Award reflects the valued partnerships Virginia Tech maintains with the intelligence community, including agencies such as the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, FBI, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Such relationships have been key to the development of the university’s robust suspicious contact reporting program and researchers across the university contributing their expertise to the national security landscape. 

“I want everyone at Virginia Tech to understand this award is theirs,” Talerico said. “None of this happens without them working with us and our researchers’ willingness to provide feedback and insights from their particular areas of expertise.”

In addition to the reporting program Virginia Tech has instilled, Talerico said the Office of Export and Secure Research Compliance’s ongoing education and outreach efforts also play a critical role in this effort. Since January 2023, more than 740 individuals have attended one of the 30 education sessions required biannually for faculty, staff, and students to take part in restricted research and many others have taken part in in-person or online courses, events, and individual meetings related to counterintelligence topics. 

“We’re keeping up with the national landscape, what’s happening on the legislative end, and what’s impacting our ability to do our jobs in the research security space at large,” Talerico said. “We’ve tried to put together a good playbook for our folks to follow and we’re here to help every step of the way.”

On July 29, the office will take another step in advancing this effort by hosting a briefing with Luke Baxter, Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency’s cyber counterintelligence special agent for the mid-Atlantic region. During the 60-minute session, Baxter will discuss emerging cyber threats and their counterintelligence implications, including artificial intelligence, big data surveillance, post-quantum cryptography, and the increasing vulnerability of personal electronic devices.

The event is open to the Virginia Tech community and is scheduled from 2-3 p.m. in Room 1032 of Research Building 1311, located at 1311 Research Center Drive in Blacksburg. Both in-person and virtual participants should pre-register.

Talerico said the event is hoped to be the first of a series of similar sessions that will take place throughout the coming academic year. To learn more about these events or the Office of Export and Secure Research Compliance in general, visit the office’s website.