Cracking down on infotech spies

The spy game isn't what it used to be.

Forget the James Bond scenario of some horrible villain or foreign government trying to get information on a doomsday weapon to hold the Earth hostage. That's so Cold War.

Today's espionage is all about foreign governments that want the technology American companies developed. Yes, some of it is defense-related, but a lot isn't. Spies are targeting corporations, research centers and universities.

FBI director Robert Mueller recently told Congress that, if the situation isn't addressed, it "could greatly undermine U.S. national security and U.S. military and economic advantage."

In short, it could mean the United States no longer being the most powerful and most prosperous nation in the world.

One of the new threats -- the greatest one -- is China. The FBI believes that nation has more than 3,000 fake companies operating in the United States. Those companies actually are fronts for spying operations. In conjunction, some Chinese students, tourists and business professionals are combining their trips with government intelligence tasks, authorities say.

Russia, despite improved relations with the United States, remains an espionage power, as do other friendly countries such as Taiwan and India. In addition, traditional enemies Iran and North Korea also pose a threat.

Visitors from these countries try to find out all they can about important corporate operations. They may befriend engineers and scientists so they can get secrets about a company's work.

Fortunately, Mueller and his agency are taking note and changing counterintelligence efforts to focus less on diplomats and embassies, which were spy hubs during the Cold War. The FBI has transferred 167 agents into counterintelligence and set up an anti-espionage operation for the first time in all 56 field offices. All of the field offices are working on a survey of potential espionage targets in their area.

Some of those might even be in Southeast Missouri.

There have been notable failures in the FBI's spying operation, most recently Robert Hanssen, an FBI employee who had been spying for the Soviet Union and Russia for years. His treachery resulted in the death of at least three U.S. informants.

We probably hear less about the successes.

Let's hope that the bureau's troubled times are behind it and that the new push will protect American ideas from being used unfairly overseas.