A recent
Justice Department reorganization of its National Security
Division concentrates resources on fighting state-sponsored
economic espionage and corporate theft of trade secrets. These
strategic changes focus on Justice's ability to target and
prosecute hackers and others who seek to damage national assets by
means including economic espionage, proliferation, and cyber-based
national security threats.
Though the Department retains terrorism as its top focus, the
appointment of a new Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Mary B.
McCord, specifically to protect national assets indicates a shift
in priorities and an increased focus on the investigation and
prosecution of trade secrets theft.
Justice's announcement aligns trade secrets theft with "key emerging threats to our national security," according to Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin. The shift seems to portend increased resources to protect American individuals and corporations from the growing threat of cyber-espionage as Justice increasingly perceives it as a national security issue.
TS Watch will be watching closely to see whether this new initiative becomes more than a bureaucratic reshuffling, or whether it actually results in more investigations and prosecutions.
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