Mike Beck ’83 Lib traveled to more than 50 countries during his career as a counterintelligence officer for the National Security Agency, where he was tasked with keeping Americans safe abroad. 

“His mission was to keep the Americans who were working in those places safe,” says his wife, Rita Cicala ’84 Edu, who met Beck through the Penn State chapter of Alpha Chi fraternity, in which Beck was a brother and Cicala a little sister. He majored in administration of justice with his sights set on becoming a Pennsylvania state trooper, but his career goals shifted when he joined the Secret Service a year after college. He was accepted into the NSA in 1987 and spent nearly 30 years as a counterintelligence officer, a job he loved. “Every night he said, ‘I have to pinch myself, this is such a great job,’” Cicala says. 

At age 45, Beck was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and he was later assessed to be the first known government worker affected by Havana Syndrome, the name given to a collection of neurological issues believed to be caused by a high-powered microwave weapon used by hostile countries. “His goal was to protect people from getting injured, so it’s ironic that he was the one who got injured,” Cicala says. 

At home, Beck was a lighthearted, fun father to the couple’s two children, Regan and Grant. “Mike had an infectious laugh,” Cicala says. “He would start a story, laughing, then tell the funny part, laugh again, and then continue laughing. This was classic Mike from the first day I met him.” 

Beck died Jan. 24, 2026, in Columbia, Md.; he was 65. Besides Cicala, Regan, and Grant, he is survived by his son Ryan Lewis, two sisters, and several extended relatives. —RR