Agency Protects DOD Classified Work From Adversaries

Published Aug. 27, 2025
By David Vergun

Academic and technology research related to the Defense Department and its allies is ending up in China's government and military industrial complex, said Matthew Redding, the assistant director of industrial security for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.

A man in a suit and tie gestures with his hands.

Redding spoke at the National Defense Industrial Association in Washington today and said China is gaining access in various ways, including through cyber espionage and by sending its students to U.S. universities, where critical research with potential military applications is studied. He also noted insider threats from DOD personnel and contractors as another possible risk.

"The homeland is no longer secure," Redding said, adding that this is where the mission of DCSA comes in. The agency continuously vets DOD civilians and contractors with clearances, as well as around 10,000 companies that conduct business with DOD. It also provides security training to industry and informs them when threats are looming.

"Our best practices, free for the taking, offer the best government and industrial practices for everything from cyber hygiene to personnel security and insider threat management to physical security," Redding said.

To protect critical academic research, DCSA works with universities to help identify sensitive areas that should only be researched by vetted U.S. students. The agency also works closely with the FBI to facilitate arrests.

Redding stated that, on average, the FBI opens an espionage case every 12 hours.

"We get 30,000 suspicious contacts a year," he said. "We're able to distill that down into 4,000 or 5,000 credible reports of enemy activity, and that adds up to an annual threat report where we have been able to target specific technology sectors, companies and humans who might be at risk in industry."

He said the report feeds into the broader intelligence community. "We understand where these threats emanate, and if it's a weakened or flawed industrial base, then our military advantage is much eroded," Redding said.