FBI targets universities in new scheme to recruit informers

“What we’re most concerned about are those things that are not classified being developed by MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], Worcester Polytech [Worcester Polytechnic Institute] and other universities,” said Warren Bamford, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office. Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts, among others, have also been approached by the FBI, and other institutions are on the agenda.

“It’s to make sure these institutions receive training...[on] what spies look for. There are hundreds of projects going on that could be useful to a foreign power,” Bamford said at a meeting with Boston Herald editors on June11.

The agent, who was appointed to the Boston office in January, said that fighting domestic terrorism will remain the “Number one priority” and ominously claimed that there are currently 250 open “terror” cases under investigation in Boston.