Espionage and Economic Power

This course will examine the contribution of intelligence activities to the economic power of the nation state. It will begin with a general description of the ways in which states lever the economic instrument of national power. It will then move to a discussion of the relationship between intelligence and economic strength, clarifying the important distinctions between economic intelligence, the collection of foreign economic information for use in formulating national security and foreign policy; and economic espionage, the use of national intelligence resources to collect intelligence on non-government entities for commercial or economic benefit. It will then discuss the U.S. intelligence community's focus on economic intelligence, contrasting this approach with the widespread willingness of U.S. adversaries, rivals, and allies to engage in economic espionage. It will coverthe various means by which both economic intelligence and economic espionage are executed, discussing both cyber and more traditional methods. It will note the expanding use of intelligence by the private sector both for legal purposes and to conduct industrial espionage against competing firms. Finally, it will examine the evolution of efforts to defend the vulnerable private sector from economic and industrial espionage.