A Chinese-born scientist steals the secrets of the American chemical company that employs him, smuggles chemicals out of the U.S. and delivers them to the Chinese government.
It sounds like the dream of a Hollywood scriptwriter, but it is just one of a growing number of real industrial espionage cases the U.S. Justice Department is investigating and prosecuting, according to an Oct. 17 New York Times article. The Times dubbed these cases of U.S. employees gone rogue to help rival nations make technological leaps the “new front in the battle for a global economic edge.”
And no industry is immune, as the Times’ Christopher Drew reported:
"As China and other countries broaden their efforts to obtain Western technology, American industries beyond the traditional military and high-tech targets risk having valuable secrets exposed by their own employees … Rather than relying on dead drops and secret directions from government handlers, the new trade in business secrets seems much more opportunistic, federal prosecutors say, and occurs in loose, underground markets throughout the world ...[I]it is difficult to prove links to a foreign government, but intelligence officials say China, Russia and Iran are among the countries pushing hardest to obtain the latest technologies."
The growing prevalence of this type of espionage, which even the smartest contractors may not be aware of, is precisely why PSC invited the FBI’s Keith Salette, the bureau’s senior representative to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and one of the government’s top experts on industrial espionage, to our Annual Conference on Oct. 4.
Salette briefed attendees on the federal government’s work in detecting and combating economic espionage and explained what our members need to do to protect themselves.
His No. 1 recommendation: put in place appropriate policies and monitoring NOW to ensure secrets don’t fall into the hands of competitors or worse. Constant vigilance is the best defense.
