FBI OVERHAULING ITS COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TACTICS TO CATCH 21st. CENTURY SPIES.
FBI headquarters photo courtesy of FBI.
The world wants what America has, from cutting edge computer software to scientific research and sensitive defense technology. And nations and overseas companies are increasingly using espionage to get it. The James Bond spy of old who saves the world destroying the likes of Goldfinger has, effectively, disappeared. The new, improved spy of the 21st. Century is directing all his efforts at corporations, research centers and universities.
The FBI now has two fronts to defend the U.S. against: Preventing Terrorism and Neutalizing the improved spy's corporate espionage activities. The Agency strongly believes there are more foreign spies than ever before operating in the U.S.
China is the greatest espionage threat to the U.S. currently and for, at least, the next 10-15 years. The Agency believes China already has more than 3,000 "front' companies in the United States whose sole purpose is direct espionage efforts a la 21st. Century spy. Russia,Iran and North Korea also have significant corporate espionage units already set up in the U.S. Even our so called "friendly countries," such as Taiwan and India, have become as great a threat as nations unfriendly to the U.S.
The modus operandi of 21st. Century espionage in the U.S. ranges from finding out where, for instance, an aerospace company produces gyroscopes for satellites to socializing with a U.S. nuclear research scientist in hopes of gaining scraps of information from him. In one recent instance, a company estimated its loss at $50 million after a spy sold its company secrets to a Taiwanese conglomerate.
To meet this quick growing challenge the Agency has transferred 167 agents to counterintelligence and set up an anti-espionage operation for the first time in its history in each of its 56 field offices.
Purely to blame, FBI officials acknowledge, is that after the collapse of the Soviet Union catching spies was considered a dead-end for FBI careers. Its clearly catch up time at the Agency for another threat to America's security.
21st. Century Espionage
Regards,
Charlie
