Michael Tu

Tu is a Senior Export Control Specialist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In this role, he oversees all aspects of NASA’s compliance with U.S. export control laws and regulations and also represents NASA equities to other U.S. Government stakeholders during interagency policy discussions and rulemaking processes. He received a departmental Gold Medal from the U.S. Department of Commerce in December 2021 for work identifying, disrupting, and ultimately prosecuting individuals and corporations attempting to violate U.S. export control laws by attempting to illegally export U.S.-origin combat raiding craft used by U.S. special forces units. He was previously a Senior Engineer with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of National Security and Technology Transfer Controls. He provided technical expertise to support US export controls ranging from regulatory review to law enforcement support. He regularly supported industry outreach and international engagement, and was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Wassenaar Arrangement. Prior to joining Commerce, Tu worked at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, the National Academy of Sciences, the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Raytheon Missile Systems. Following his fellowship, Tu worked as a Research Associate at the DC office of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. During his time at CNS-DC, he worked both for the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program and the Nuclear Threat Initiative project, maintaining a broad research portfolio that included inventory and arsenal tracking of CBW and delivery systems in the Middle East, microbial forensics and bioattribution, and missile defense.