NCJ Number
145728
Journal
Business Espionage Report Volume: 7 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1993) Pages: 1-6
Date Published
1993
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This bulletin provides information on the expertise of modern business spies, profiles government-supported economic espionage by various "friendly" countries against U.S. companies, and reports on coming events and publications on business espionage.
Abstract
The section on business spies' expertise advises that they are often specialists in either computer research or field investigations. Since these are significantly different specialties, few people excel at both. Computer research specialists often have degrees in library science and are comfortable with powerful computers that can read a book in seconds and sort through thousands of pages of data overnight. Their reports provide raw information that may lead to insights about targeted individuals and firms. Field investigators usually have more varied background and work directly with people. Their reports provide inside information about the target's intentions and other firsthand material not found on databases. The bulletin describes the government-sponsored business espionage of Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, Canada, Sweden, Israel, and the United Kingdom. Japan spends 80 percent of its intelligence assets on economic spying, according to the CIA. South Korea frequently uses Korean organized-crime gangs to spy on both Japanese and American firms. Upcoming training events and recent publications on business espionage are briefly described.