Security News > 2006 > May > Universities given security guidelines for foreign students
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1632039.htm This is a transcript from PM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on ABC Local Radio. Reporter: Sabra Lane 5 May, 2006 MARK COLVIN: The fight against terrorism is shifting to Australian university campuses and research institutions. The Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs want academics to report foreign students enrolled in particular subjects. The Government also want to broaden export controls, forcing lecturers to apply for licences if they're going to share their knowledge abroad. Sabra Lane reports. SABRA LANE: It's not a so much a crackdown on students recruiting for extremist causes, rather an attempt to detect spies in our midst and stop them from getting their hands on research at conferences. Last month, the Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs sent the document called "Export Controls, Your Responsibilities" to universities and research institutions. It says universities must inform the Government if suspicious parties are trying to get their hands on material or research that could be used in weapons of mass destruction programs. President of the National Tertiary Education Union Carolyn Allport acknowledges the need for national security measures, but says academics weren't consulted. (to Carolyn Allport) Are your members comfortable with dobbing in students? CAROLYN ALLPORT: I don't think they will be. I certainly don't think they will be. So I think they're going to be very concerned about this paper. We recognise it's an important strategic objective of the Government, but at the same time, universities aren't there to be the secret police. SABRA LANE: Former senior intelligence analyst David Wright-Neville, who now heads up the Global Terrorism Research Unit at Monash University, says it's off the mark. DAVID WRIGHT-NEVILLE: I think it's a little clumsy in the sorts of obligations it places on academics. Academics certainly are aware of the sorts of risks that we confront in the contemporary environment. I don't think they need to reminded of that. It's unreasonable to expect that academics can identify terrorist activities. Trained intelligence officers with many years of experience often find it very difficult to identify terrorists, so how an academic with experience in fairly esoteric areas sometime, can do the jobs of people who are trained to do it, is really beyond me. SABRA LANE: With universities expanding offshore, the document says the likelihood countries will exploit Australian expertise for WMD programs is increasing. While short on details, it also reveals export control laws are under review, with the Government keen to include "intangible technology transfer". Carolyn Allport explains. CAROLYN ALLPORT: Research, papers produced by academics in universities, or working papers, you know, seminar papers, seminars themselves, conferences, this is what's listed in the paper. They also suggest that people who are making requests from certain designated countries to come to a conference here are also seen to be risky. If there was a conference on, I don't know, some sort of chemical conference here, for example, and someone from Iran or North Korea or China made a request to come to that conference, I'm assuming from what I read here that the Government automatically sees these people as potential terrorists. SABRA LANE: A 2004 report to the United States Congress on economic and industrial espionage found some foreigners deliberately sought jobs at universities and research houses to acquire secrets for their home countries. An intelligence analyst who declined to be interviewed by PM says the guidelines are needed as America's enemies are targeting allies like Australia and Canada. Countries he claims have underestimated espionage. David Wright-Neville disagrees. DAVID WRIGHT-NEVILLE: It suggests that we're still in the stage of sort of knee jerk panic reactions, and I really think we need to have a Bex and have a good lie down for a while, that really none of this sort of stuff is going to address the long-term threat posed by terrorism and in fact I think it runs the risk of being counter-productive. MARK COLVIN: David Wright-Neville ending that report by Sabra Lane. _________________________________ Attend the Black Hat Briefings and Training, Las Vegas July 29 - August 3 2,500+ international security experts from 40 nations, 10 tracks, no vendor pitches. www.blackhat.com