ABSTRACT
Chapter 17 summarizes and analyzes US government investigations and prosecutions of economic espionage and trade secrets thefts. It directly confronts the issue of ethnic bias in investigation and prosecution, first by dissecting the methodological and empirical weaknesses of a Committee of 100 study, “Prosecuting Chinese ‘Spies’.” The chapter then offers an alternative line of analysis, concluding that nationality, not ethnicity, is the key variable in understanding China-related technology espionage and theft of trade secrets. The chapter moves on to analyze key commonalities in tradecraft through the cases in the appendix, highlighting trends and indicators. Based on extensive interviewing of US Department of Justice officials, prosecutors, FBI field office personnel, and counter-intelligence officials, it concludes with an analysis of key prosecutorial issues such as the “foreign instrumentality” dilemma, offers critiques of the existing system and recommendations for improvements to the investigative and prosecutorial systems.
