“The purpose of the conference is to have ongoing dialogue between not only MSU, but a number of universities in the state and federal government representatives about export control regulations and the parallel trade sanctions,” Hunt said.

Made up of 22 college and university presidents, a national security higher education board administered by the FBI sets up various conferences nationally to build a trusting relationship, said J. Christopher Woiwode, a section chief for the FBI. MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon is on the board to represent MSU, Woiwode said.

“Universities do billions of dollars of research both in classified and unclassified ways that are absolutely vital for national security in the U.S.,” he said.
Woiwode, who presented on the roles of federal law enforcement in safety at universities, said the FBI was involved in co-hosting the event.

“When there is a violation or a loss of trade secrets or something like that (at a university), we would investigate that,” he said. “That’s our interest, national security, especially if you look at it in the broad sense of losing sensitive information that may go to a hostile, foreign government.”

Also acting as a presenter, MSU police Inspector Mary Johnson said the event was comprehensive and did a good job in raising awareness about current issues, especially in the area of safety and security of students affiliated with international programs or international students themselves.

“I do special liaison efforts with the state police and also with the FBI to make sure that we’re accessing the best resources available to help protect the university and the community,” she said. “We work with various university partners, such as the Office of Study Abroad, the Office of International Students and Scholars and others, and in the event of an emergency involving students in those programs, we would provide assistance. Police departments in general play a large role in emergency management and being first responders.”

Although the Cold War is gone and past, Woiwode said there are more intelligence officers in the U.S. today from hostile intelligence agencies than in the Cold War era, making the conference more important than ever.

“What has changed is, a long time ago, the intelligence officers came out of embassies — what we call a symmetric threat,” he said. “And now, it’s changed to a more asymmetric threat where universities and businesses are being targeted, so it’s not someone coming out of an embassy. It could be a researcher, a student or someone working at a business.”

Overall, the conference helped its participants to understand the processes and regulations further, Woiwode said.

“I think what you see is the awareness and comfort levels going up,” he said. “I think people over the course of the day are understanding the issues more and more.”