SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In the heart of Silicon Valley, the Office of Special Investigations operates on the front lines of the global technology, safeguarding national security amid international competition.
This is where Special Agent Raleigh Wilson, OSI National Security Det. 818, traded the dusty outposts of Kandahar for the tech world of Palo Alto. Yet, the 10-year OSI veteran said beneath the polished exterior of the Bay Area, the stakes are just as high as anything he experienced overseas.
But today, Wilson’s battleground is from inside coffee shops, college campuses and office buildings scattered across the Bay Area, where the enemies don’t fight with bullets and bombs, but use Venture capital, private equity and other foreign-origin private investment to harm U.S. economic and national security interests
"The setting here is different, but the essence of our mission hasn't changed," Wilson said, reflecting on his 2013 deployment where he conducted negotiations with influential figures in the Middle East, similar to engaging with key stakeholders in Silicon Valley.
"In Silicon Valley, a single security breach can give competitors or foreign adversaries access to new technologies," Wilson said, adding that these threats are a daily reality for OSI, who collaborate with other federal agencies around the area.
Strategic shift
To combat this, in Oct. 2020, OSI activated eight cross-functional field units, or National Security Detachments, aimed at monitoring and protecting emerging technologies. This move broadened the agency’s focus from the defense industrial base to the national level.
The activation of these units expanded OSI’s support to technology protection beyond traditional government research, development, and acquisition processes. Support now includes the external and dynamic National Security Innovation Base, where the bulk of emerging critical technology development and acquisition occurs today.
The mission of the NSDs is to deny, disrupt, exploit, mitigate and/or degrade adversarial efforts to damage U.S. economic and national security while enhancing the U.S. military technological advantage.
These units are geographically located at the nation’s most influential technology corridors and centers-of-gravity—like Silicon Valley. The cross-functional teams provide counterintelligence, law enforcement and analytical support to protect technology at the earliest stages of advanced research and development of critical and emerging technologies.
For example, this meant attention was shifted to areas involving semiconductors and microelectronics, Wilson said, both areas integral to computing power and communications used in new technology for both commercial and military applications.
"There's over 40,000 entities, businesses, research institutes, you name it, that are all working on technologies we might want to protect,” he said.
The region’s three pillars, including academic institutions like Stanford and UC Berkeley, a thriving startup culture and venture capital investors, position the Valley as a hotbed for opportunity and vulnerability.
For example, if something is intended for civilian use, like sensory features on commercial vehicles, that development could be adapted to modernize military detection systems, said Special Agent Keith Harper, National Security Det. 818 Special Agent in Charge.
The dual-use nature of many of these modern technologies makes them targets for foreign interests.
Although overseas investors often seek to bring new innovations back to their countries as part of standard business practices, this activity can raise concerns when they are associated with individuals linked to hostile foreign governments.
"This delicate ecosystem demands us to carefully navigate and protect these developments,” Harper said. “It’s a balance between fostering innovation and ensuring it’s not exploited by bad actors.”
Record of success
To navigate Silicon Valley's ecosystem, Harper and Wilson use similar strategies carried out by their peers across OSI.
These daily activities, stretching across the Northern California coast, blend traditional detective work with a dash of modern business dynamics, Wilson said, all to prevent threats from slipping through the cracks.
“There is so much work to be done and every day represents new challenges and opportunities for us,” he said. “But we’re going to keep making strides in this rapidly evolving landscape.”
Over the last year, OSI members, including members of Det 818, participated in high level interagency briefings on these technology protection issues.
Specifically, they highlighted challenges in safeguarding venture capital from foreign threats and detailed our collaborative efforts through OSI’s SPARTAN CITADEL initiative and the FBI, said Special Agent James Cangialosi, OSI’s counterintelligence director.
These engagements, received positive feedback, Cangialosi added, and led to a request for additional details to inform Policy makers on crafting mitigation efforts to include potential legislation aimed at closing loopholes that could be exploited by adversaries.
SPARTAN CITADEL is OSI’s expanded and overarching technology protection program for counterintelligence support to the Department of the Air Force. Through SPARTAN CITADEL, OSI personnel focus on protecting critical programs, technologies and their associated supply chains.
Additionally, teams provide focused and direct support to research, development, test and evaluation. When combined with the NSD mission set, the whole of SPARTAN CITADEL aims to protect all lines of effort from the National Security Innovation Base through the traditional research, development, test, and evaluation phase.
In every respect, it seems OSI’s Silicon Valley team stands prepared for the future. From Wilson, the son of an FBI agent from small-town Ohio, to Harper, the seasoned veteran who brought three decades of Bay Area law enforcement experience into his current OSI role.
“We’re committed to fulfilling the mission the Air Force leaders have given us by addressing threats in the most effective ways possible,” Wilson said. “What makes this job exciting is that every day we tackle challenges of national importance. We’re constantly devising new methods to manage these threats that impact national security.”
As they navigate the ever-expanding frontier of technology, their work will only intensify, they said. But, looking ahead, their team is poised to grow.
“We are looking for motivated individuals who are eager to engage in one of the most technologically advanced environments in the world,” Wilson said. “We want to add self-starters to our team who are passionate about identifying, neutralizing and exploiting foreign threats.”
“By integrating our National Security Detachments, OSI stays ahead of potential threats from the beginning,” Mundt said. “OSI’s national security mission is a testament of our dedication to defending the nation’s interests amidst a rapidly changing global environment.”