NSPM-33 and foreign travel

What the rules ask of foreign travel.

Under NSPM-33, institutions with more than $50 million a year in federal science and engineering support certify that they run a research security program. The OSTP's July 2024 guidelines name four elements: cybersecurity, foreign travel security, research security training, and export control training where it applies.

Every six years

Covered individuals who travel internationally for the institution, for business, teaching, conferences or research, take foreign travel security training at least once every six years.

When the award says so

When a funding agency decides the risk warrants it, the award terms call for an organizational record of covered individuals' international travel.

Common practice

Most offices also run pre-travel disclosure and approval, security briefings, device guidance and debriefs. Earlier federal guidance described them, and award terms can still ask for them.

Program covers all three. The register is the organizational record, every briefing acknowledgment is dated so the six-year cycle tracks itself, and disclosure, briefing and debrief run through secure links. Program certification is arriving agency by agency; where NSPM-33 stands →

How SYSWERX Program works

Every trip, step by step.

01 Register

One record of every trip.

Traveler, destinations, dates, purpose, and who pays, with a status trail: disclosed, approved, briefed, traveled, debriefed.
A "Needs you" list: trips awaiting approval, travelers who must be briefed first, debriefs due or overdue, and anyone with no travel briefing on record in six years.
Every destination carries today's State Department advisory level.
Notifications and a daily digest, so nothing waits on someone remembering.

Travel register Eastbrook University · Research Security

Upcoming

Awaiting approval

Debrief overdue

Concern raised

TravelerDestinationDatesStatus

Dana Vellacourt

Invited talk or seminar

China Level 2

Nov 3–14

ApprovedBrief first

Helen Achterhof

Conference (presenting)

Germany Level 2

Oct 20–25

Briefed

Tomas Lindqvarn

Workshop, course or training

Türkiye Level 2

Dec 1–6

Awaiting approval

Owen Raskell

Facility or site visit

Singapore Level 1

Sep 14–20

Debrief overdue

Wren Halvorby

Research collaboration or lab visit

Japan Level 1

Sep 21–Oct 2

DebriefedConcern

Sample register · fictional travelers · advisory levels illustrative

02 Disclose

Travelers answer by secure link. No account.

Send a traveler a disclosure form, a briefing to acknowledge, or a debrief, each by a secure link in an email carrying your institution's name.
The disclosure asks where, when, why, who pays and what they expect in return, which devices are going, and whether research data or export-controlled material is.
One answer per link, and links expire. Every answer lands on the trip with its date.

What the traveler sees secure link · no sign-in

Pre-travel briefing

Your pre-travel security briefing

Your research security office at Eastbrook University prepared this briefing for your trip to China, Nov 3–14.

State Department travel advisory: China Level 2

⭳ Download the briefing for China (PowerPoint)

✓I have read the pre-travel security briefing for this trip and understand what my institution expects of me.

Type your full name as your signature

Dana Vellacourt

Acknowledge the briefing

Before you go: enroll your trip at step.state.gov.

Sample trip · fictional traveler

03 Know the risk

Every destination, with today's advisory.

The current State Department travel advisory level for every country, on the register, on each trip and on every country page.
A country page for every destination: the level and its risk indicators in words, a map with its neighbors by level, what to do before you go, and your team's trips there.
A pre-travel briefing for any country, with the current advisory and country information and your office's contacts, plus deeper, curated briefings for ten destinations.

State Department travel advisories every country, by level

World map: each country colored by its U.S. Department of State travel advisory level, from Level 1 (exercise normal precautions) to Level 4 (do not travel).

Level 1 · Exercise normal precautionsLevel 2 · Exercise increased cautionLevel 3 · Reconsider travelLevel 4 · Do not travelNo advisory

U.S. Department of State advisory levels as of October 13, 2026 · the product always shows today's

04 Debrief

Debriefs that don't fall through.

A debrief link goes out after the return, due a set number of business days later. Your office sets the number.
Plain questions about unusual contacts, questions about unpublished work, devices, border searches, offers and follow-ups.
Overdue debriefs show in "Needs you", in notifications and in the daily digest.

Post-travel debrief Wren Halvorby · Japan · Sep 21–Oct 2

Did you meet anyone beyond your planned hosts who showed unusual interest in you, your work or your funding?

Were you asked about unpublished results, methods or lab capabilities beyond normal conversation?

A visitor at the host lab asked twice for our unpublished sintering data and offered to "help analyze it".

Yes

Did any device leave your control, get inspected, or behave oddly?

Were you offered funding, an appointment, a visiting title or paid talks?

1 answer raises a concernAdd to case →

Sample debrief · fictional traveler

05 Connect

Travel and the review, in one record.

A debrief that raises a concern opens the researcher's case, or adds to it, in one click.
Trips show on the researcher's record and case page, next to the findings.
When a mitigation plan sets travel conditions, the trip can't be marked traveled until the researcher is briefed.
Need to know carries over: a restricted researcher's trips stay with the people on the case.

Travel on Dana Vellacourt's case

● ApprovedTripChina · Nov 3–14

Invited talk or seminar

Mitigation plan: briefing before any visit to the appointing institution

Mark traveled

● DebriefedTripChina · May 6–12

Conference (presenting)

Briefed Apr 28 · debrief on file, no concerns

Needs a briefing first: send the briefing link, and the trip can be marked traveled once it's acknowledged.

Sample case · fictional researcher

Also in Program

The paperwork, the record, and the picture.

Template library

Start from eight templates, or your own.

An international travel security policy, a travel disclosure and authorization form, a pre-travel briefing acknowledgment, a device security checklist, a loaner device agreement, a post-travel debrief questionnaire, a sponsored travel offer disclosure, and a research security training attestation. Add your institution's own beside them.

Past travel

Where your researchers go.

A map of trips by country, trips per month, top destinations with today's advisory level, and the purposes behind them, for the last twelve months or all time.

Six-year record

Briefings, dated and counted.

Every acknowledgment is dated per traveler. Anyone traveling with no briefing on record in the last six years is called out before they go.

Your name on it

From your office, not from us.

Traveler emails, link pages and briefing decks carry your institution's name and your office's contacts.

Questions offices ask

Foreign travel security, answered.

Is foreign travel security required under NSPM-33?

It is one of the four elements of the research security program that institutions above $50 million a year in federal science and engineering support certify to their funding agencies. Certification is arriving agency by agency, and travel training every six years for covered travelers is part of the element.

Do travelers need an account?

No. Each traveler gets a secure link by email for the one thing you asked: a disclosure, a briefing acknowledgment, or a debrief. The link can't open anything else.

Where do the advisories come from?

From the U.S. Department of State: its travel advisories and country information, kept current in the register, on every country page, and on the advisory slide of every briefing.

Can we use our own policy and forms?

Yes. Upload your institution's own documents to the library beside the eight starter templates, and send whichever you use.

Does it connect to case management?

Yes. Trips show on the researcher's record and case, a debrief concern goes to the case in one click, and a mitigation plan's travel conditions hold a trip until the briefing is done. How case management works →

What doesn't it do?

It doesn't book travel, issue devices, or deliver research security training courses. It keeps the travel record, the briefings and acknowledgments, and the debriefs your program needs to show.

Foreign travel security, from disclosure to debrief.