The agents also suggested that professors be wary about who contacts them to talk about their work.

“The general point was,that if there is unnatural or unexplained interest in your research and you’re nervous about it, here’s how to be in touch with us,” Berkey said.

Bamford also recently visited Boston College’s president, the Reverend William P Leahy, said Kevin Shea, Leahy’s executive assistant.

“Boston College was very appreciative of their outreach,” Shea said. He said BC probably would be taking the FBI up on some of its offers of support, but said he did not have details.

Bamford and two other FBI agents have also met University of Rhode Island president Robert L Carothers and Robert A Weygand, vice president for administration and a former Rhode Island congressman.

The agents talked about another danger in foreign hotel rooms—that hackers might break into a professor’s laptop through the hotel Internet system.

The university will consult with researchers and other officials before deciding whether to accept the FBI’s offer of faculty training, Weygand said.

However, John Reinstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, questioned the FBI’s presence on college campuses.

“There ought to be some concern about keeping a little bit of distance between the universities and the intelligence community.”

He added that the FBI’s alliance with universities could have a chilling effect on students or researchers.

“Are you going to ask all the questions you want to ask if someone is out there taking notes and reporting to the FBI that you asked the question which they perceived as suspicious?” Reinstein asked.

... contd.