1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Academic Research Protection Act . 2. Designation of Academic Liaison to protect against emerging threats (a) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, shall take the following actions: (1) Designate an official serving within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to work with the academic and research communities to protect academic research funded by the Department of Defense from undue foreign influences and threats. (2) Set forth the responsibilities of the official designated under paragraph (1), including— (A) serving as the liaison of the Department of Defense with the academic and research communities; (B) carrying out initiatives of the Department related to the protection of academic research funded by the Department from undue foreign influences and threats, including the initiative established under section 1286 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 ( 10 U.S.C. 2358 note); (C) not less frequently than once a year, conducting outreach and education activities for the academic and research community about undue foreign influences and threats to academic research that is funded by the Department; (D) coordinating and aligning the policies relating to academic research security of— (i) the elements of the Department specified in section 111(b) of title 10, United States Code; (ii) the intelligence community; (iii) Federal science agencies; (iv) the Office of Science and Technology Policy; and (v) Federal regulatory agencies