Employee Responsibilities

As a DOE/NNSA employee, contractor, consultant, or subcontractor, you are required to comply with a number of directives that establish counterintelligence (CI) related policies regarding foreign travel, hosting or escorting foreign nationals at work, meeting formally or informally with foreign nationals, reportable contacts, and reporting attempts to obtain classified or sensitive information. The responsibilities you have as a DOE/NNSA employee, contractor or subcontractor are somewhat more stringent than the average American's, but please remember that unlike most Americans, you have been granted a special trust symbolized by your DOE/NNSA access badge, "L" or "Q" clearance. If you have any questions after reading your responsibilities or would like to report something, please contact our Counterintelligence office at 509.373.1865.

Foreign Travel

:: Hosting and Escorting Foreign National Visits :: Reportable Contacts

Traveling to a foreign country can be an extraordinary and exciting experience. Unfortunately in some regions, as a U.S. citizen and a DOE/NNSA employee or contractor you could become a target for theft, kidnapping, terrorism, or espionage. While the primary purview of the Counterintelligence Office is to combat espionage, your safety is of utmost importance to DOE at all times. For that reason, you will find several documents and links in this section with useful information on how to plan a safe and secure visit overseas, as well as specific areas to be aware of regarding certain countries. As with most things, adequate prior planning and research for your foreign trip will pay off later. Please view the various parts of this section to learn more about foreign travel threats and vulnerabilities, how to plan your trip, and your pre-travel and post-travel responsibilities.

To ensure that you are fully prepared for foreign travel and armed with the most current information, please notify our office 45 days prior to the start of (offical or unofficial) travel, or as soon as you know you will be traveling.

The RFO Senior Counterintelligence Officer (SCIO), or his designate, is required to provide a pre-brief and debrief of all official travel to a sensitive country, unofficial travel to a sensitive country by an individual holding a clearance, and all official travel wherein DOE/NNSA personnel will interact with sensitive country foreign nationals (conferences, seminars, etc.).

REMEMBER - "Sensitive" is the key! If you are traveling to a sensitive country, discussing classified or sensitive topics , or meeting with a sensitive country foreign national, you are required to contact our office. Although "sensitive" countries require extra precautions, every country in the world has some kind of intelligence organization; your best defense is awareness. Report any incident that seems unusual to you by contacting our office at 509-373-1865.

DOE Order 475.1, Counterintelligence Program

Hosting and Escorting Foreign National Visits

:: Foreign Travel :: Reportable Contacts

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Do you think you will be hosting an unclassified visit of a foreign national or group of foreign nationals to your facility? The first thing you need to do is notify your foreign visits and assignment point of contact.

The second thing you should do, along with anyone who might be an escort during the foreign national visit, is explore this section to find out what your other pre- and post- visit responsibilities are, discover how to protect against the potential threats of foreign national visits and how to properly plan for the visit to ensure that no sensitive information is lost.

Site visits or assignments to DOE facilities provide foreign countries with a low cost and low risk opportunity to gain access to needed technologies. Most foreign nationals are here just for their stated purpose. However, a few visitors have a hidden agenda and are on site to collect information, and this information doesn't have to be classified to be valuable and desirable. Unclassified information is often targeted because it is generally more accessible, easier to obtain and may not be available to the visitor at home.

Certain nations that have not adhered to generally accepted nonproliferation or anti-terrorism policies have been designated by the DOE as sensitive countries and are included on the DOE Sensitive Countries List (Please contact our office for the Sensitive Country List).

Additional protective measures may be required if the visitor(s) is (are) from a DOE sensitive country. Both sensitive and non-sensitive countries possess highly active intelligence collection capabilities and therefore require enhanced defensive countermeasures to protect against the loss of sensitive and/or classified information.

Host Responsibilities

Before you host a foreign visitor or assignee:

Ensure that the benefits gained from the visit outweigh their potential risks;
Determine the areas of your work that may be sensitive, but not classified, and might shed light on classified work;
Assess whether discussion of selected unclassified information with foreign nationals could divulge proprietary details related to cooperative research or other collaborative work at your facility and
Carefully craft your security plan to ensure the security of the visit.

During the visit:

Be alert to indications that any of your foreign guests might be collecting information on the basis of intelligence tasking, or might be an intelligence officer.

Some indicators are:

A visitor inquires too frequently about information outside the stated subject area of the visit or seeks information and gives little in return;
In a group of visitors, one individual doesn't have the same level of expertise as others in the group; does not stay focused on the agenda of the visit; or engages in incongruous behavior for the occasion;
A "wandering" visitor who is offended when he is challenged about his presence in locations away from his normal work space; or A visitor is overly curious about people, programs and areas beyond the scope of the visit.
Deflect inquiries that seek information that should not be shared about you, your colleagues, your employer, DOE/NNSA, or other U.S. Government agencies, programs and policies.
Exercise caution if you assist your foreign visitor with mailing of packages or letters out of the U.S. Review the contents before mailing.
Monitor computer access. Often intelligence collectors look for sensitive projects or proprietary business information on unclassified networks.
Ensure that the visitor's access is restricted to information and locations approved for the visit.
Remember, in today's global economic competition, knowledge has value. Intellectual property is the key to our country's continued success.

Related documents:

DOE Sensitive Countries List (Please contact your CI office for the Sensitive Country List)
DOE Order 475.1, Counterintelligence Program (PDF)
https://www.directives.doe.gov/directives/current-directives/142.3a-BOrder/view
DOE Order 142.3A, Unclassified Foreign Visits and Assignments Program (PDF)

Reportable Contacts

:: Foreign Travel :: Hosting and Escorting Foreign National Visits

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As a DOE/NNSA employee or contractor, you are required to report certain types of specific information to the Counterintelligence Office. This section includes a discussion on the background of the policy, its specifics, and some frequently asked questions on reportable contacts. However, if you currently have a professional, personal, or financial relationship with a foreign national; have received an unusual solicitation; or simply have observed something strange that you can't explain away (an anomaly), you may want to review the information below later and go first to the section on CI Reporting Requirements.