Economic espionage is the theft of trade secrets
or intellectual property for the benefit of
a foreign
government or foreign agent.
Some autocratic governments intentionally
target advanced technologies in
the US to give themselves a competitive advantage
in the world marketplace.
And while the US welcomes
competition, we also expect countries
not to cheat and to respect the rule of law.
Economic
espionage violates that rule of law.
The cost of stealing US intellectual property
is enormous and has an impact on everyday
people.
It has an
impact on American businesses, American jobs,
and American consumers.
Intellectual property theft
results in estimated losses between five hundred
and fifty billion dollars to one trillion
dollars per year.
Seventy percent of intellectual property theft
prosecutions are right here in Northern California.
Economic
espionage is a threat to our economic security
and our national security.
The FBI is devoting many resources to this
threat and we need to make sure that we're
partnering more
closely with American business and American
universities.
While it's important for academia to have
an open and collaborative environment, some
foreign
adversaries are increasingly taking advantage
of this system to secretly misdirect funding
and research for
their own gains.
Therefore, we're encouraging universities to take steps
to protect their students from intimidation
or control by foreign governments and to give
them ways to report such incidents.
We encourage universities to ensure their
faculty and staff are fully disclosing all
of their foreign funding
sources, and other relevant foreign affiliations,
in accordance with federal funding requirements.
Confronting this threat effectively does NOT
mean that we shouldn't welcome international
students or
work with foreign businesses.
What it does mean is that when autocratic
nations violate our criminal laws
and international norms, we're not going to
tolerate it.
If you're in the Bay Area, reach out to the
FBI San Francisco Office to learn more about
protecting your
business, school, or university from the threat of
economic espionage.
If you're located somewhere else, please
find your local field office at fbi.gov.
