NCJ Number
131376
Journal
Security Management Volume: 35 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1991) Pages: 49-53
Date Published
1991
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Espionage is a major problem for both industry and government, and the number of incidents reported during the last decade has grown dramatically.
Abstract
A data base maintained at the Defense Personnel Security Research and Education Center contains information on more than 60 Americans who have committed espionage against the United States since 1981. This figure does not include the presumably much larger number of industrial espionage cases that have also occurred during that period. The problem of espionage is likely to get much worse over the next few years. On the supply side, many Americans with access to classified information and industrial secrets may suffer from personnel reductions. Many of them will have acquired lifestyles that depend on their comparatively high-paying positions. On the demand side, fierce competition among companies and nations for technological advantages will be compounded by reductions in money available for research and development. A cognitive model is presented that addresses conditions necessary for a person to engage in espionage: perceived opportunity, contemplation of the criminal act, strong desire to obtain outcomes that are likely to stem from the act, insufficient internal control mechanism to prevent the act, and insufficient external control mechanism to prevent the act. Security interventions that can be taken to decrease the likelihood of employee espionage are identified, and characteristics to look for before granting access to sensitive material are outlined. 2 exhibits