Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a healthy and productive economy are always in the national interest of
a country. For that reason, national intelligence-gathering organizations
often provide acquired intelligence of an economic nature to domestic
industries that might benefit from such knowledge. This poses an
extremely difficult problem to solve. As former Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation (FBI) director Louis Freeh noted during a speech to the Executive's
Club in Chicago, “At least 20 nations are actively engaged in economic
espionage.”
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AREAS OF VULNERABILITY
Most corporations are not equipped to counter espionage attempts
directed by a country. If the highest levels of government agencies, such
as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the FBI, can be penetrated,
then so can a corporation. Local employees are often susceptible to pres-
sure from the intelligence services of their country. They can be threat-
ened, bribed, or even approached to cooperate willingly based on their
feelings of patriotism. American employees may be co-opted through the
use of financial inducement, feelings of resentment, or even ideological
reasons. Remember, information doesn't have to come from the president
of a company to be valuable. The president's secretary, driver, or office
cleaner may be in a position to provide access to exactly the same infor-
mation.
What type of information is of value to an economic competitor? If
you are in business, you know how to answer that question better than we
can. Think of the type of information you wish you had from your most
direct competitor. In merger discussions or hostile takeovers, what type
of knowledge about the target firm would help you take advantage of a
company's weakness or prepare you to protect your own company's inter-
ests? Or perhaps your direct competitor would benefit by stealing your
research or developmental ideas. What about your cost structure, bids,
customer lists, and marketing strategies, or personal information about
your top-level executives? As former FBI director Freeh noted in the speech
quoted earlier:
This kind of information can be intercepted from fax and satellite communica-
tions. It can be monitored from cellular and microwave telephone links. It can
be retrieved from inadequately protected computer systems.
