SAN FRANCISCO -- Amid a shifting security landscape in Europe, the Office of Special Investigations hosted a delegation from Poland’s Military Counterintelligence Service in California, May 12-17.
The weeklong event, led by Special Agent Kevin Alexander, the AFOSI Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, aimed to strengthen NATO coordination around defense innovation and counterintelligence.
“Engaging with our allies in person is essential,” Alexander said. “It was an opportunity for our Polish partners to see how the tech protection mission plays out on the ground. Not just from us, but from hearing it directly from the people we work with every day in places.”
Alexander added that building trust like this is best done firsthand.
“The people we visited aren’t just contacts, they’re partners,” he said. “When a company has a security concern, we want them calling us. That only happens if we’ve earned their trust.”
Securing the skies
The delegation began their week at OSI Detachment 804 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, where they received mission briefings and participated in a case study focused on unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
The scenario, like a recent case involving a foreign national who flew a drone into restricted airspace during a military satellite launch at the space base, offered a real-world example of how AFOSI coordinates with federal and base security partners to investigate and mitigate emerging threats.
“Safeguarding our installations and national security is at the core of the AFOSI mission,” said Special Agent Michael Wilson, AFOSI Det. 804 commander. “This case study highlighted the coordination and professionalism required to respond to emerging threats.”
The session included discussions on investigative techniques, airspace vulnerabilities and Eyes of the Eagle, a project that uses drones to help monitor the area around launch sites.
“One of the first things I worked on [here] had to do with adversaries targeting space companies,” said Special Agent Dante Tabarracci, AFOSI Det. 303. “It was about removing risks so industry partners could safely support U.S. missions.”
Identifying and disrupting adversarial threats also helps ensure that key defense technologies stay in trusted hands, Tabarracci added.
Protecting innovation
From Vandenberg, the team traveled north along the Pacific Coast to Silicon Valley, California, where they met with defense industry leaders in Mountain View, California.
“We wanted to showcase to our allies the partnerships we’ve built with DoD acquisition channels and their most critical emerging companies,” Tabarracci said. “That kind of synergy is essential if we want to outpace them in artificial intelligence, autonomy and cybersecurity.”
Later that day, they visited SRI and the Hoover Institution, where they participated in a technology protection roundtable led by Dr. Glenn Tiffert, a research fellow and historian of modern China who has written on Chinese influence and academic espionage.
“Partnering with our Polish allies to enhance technology promotion and protection elevates our mutual security and safeguards the freedoms we hold dear,” Tiffert said.
In Menlo Park and Palo Alto, Polish officials saw how Special Agents work directly with research labs, think tanks and private companies to understand vulnerabilities, respond to incidents and build long-term protective strategies.
“Special Agent Tabarracci demonstrated to the delegation the depth of AFOSI’s relationships” Alexander said. “These aren't one-off meetings”
On the final day, the delegation turned its attention to artificial intelligence, one of the Department of Defense’s fastest-growing operational priorities.
At one of their final stops, the team explored how AI tools are being developed to support defense missions, like those involving real-time data processing and enhanced situational awareness in dynamic environments.
According to Alexander, the dialogue on AI underscored the importance of safeguarding innovation while responsibly integrating advanced tools into planning and decision-making processes.
The Polish delegation listened closely, their questions sharp and specific. For a country familiar with the threat of Russian aggression, the stakes around emerging technology and national defense are anything but abstract.
Today, Poland fields one of NATO’s largest armies and spends roughly 4.7% of its GDP on defense.
“The industry partners we work with in the Bay don’t just matter to the U.S., they matter to NATO, too,” said Alexander, speaking about both experience in Silicon Valley and allied cooperation in Warsaw. “These tools will shape how we plan, defend and respond.”
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