ABSTRACT
The Attorney General of the United States defined economic espionage as “the unlawful or clandestine
targeting or acquisition of sensitive financial, trade, or economic policy information; proprietary
economic information; or critical technologies.” Note that this definition excludes the collection of
open and legally available information that makes up the majority of economic collection. This means
that aggressive intelligence collection that is entirely open and legal may harm U.S. companies but is not
considered espionage, economic or otherwise. The FBI has extended this definition to include the
unlawful or clandestine targeting or influencing of sensitive economic policy decisions.
