LAW 792 - Corporate Security, Counterintel, Counterespionage, & the Insider Threat

Fall (1-3) Robert Trono

In an evolving global trade environment, corporate America is becoming an increasingly hot target for economic and industrial espionage. Intelligence collectors come from a variety of sources including foreign nation states, industry competitors, and trusted insiders. This course will illustrate this aggressive threat landscape and thoroughly review how intellectual property has emerged as a coveted target for adversaries and the impact those losses have on economic and national security. One of the most potentially damaging actors to both government and private industry comes from the insider threat. This course will delve into the insider threat phenomenon to understand motivating factors, behavioral indicators, and organizational circumstances which contributed to an insider’s success. The course will examine Edward Snowden as a case study of insider threat activity and lessons learned in the aftermath of his actions. The course will discuss the many challenges faced by counterintelligence, both in government agencies and the private sector. This includes fundamental issues such as information sharing between public and private sectors, growth in offensive technological advancements, and effective employee screening. As theft of U.S. innovation continues to grow at an alarming rate, many companies have implemented counterintelligence and insider threat mitigation measures within their business framework. The course will also examine the vast legal and regulatory requirements associated to these measures, such as program oversight, employee privacy, program transparency, and prosecutorial authorities. The course will analyze Federal statutes covering economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, the Presidential Executive Order on the Insider Threat and the National Industrial Security Program. The grade will be pass/fail based on a final paper.