In considering legislative approaches to economic espionage, you are breaking new ground in the most figurative sense. For there is little ground here. I, and I believe my colleagues in private security, welcome the intent of the Congress in resolving this problem. Measures such as those proposed in the various Senate bills and by the Department of Justice will aid in the deterrence, detection and prosecution of intellectual property crimes by lending shape and substance to what now is a disconcerting and damaging void in policy toward crimes against American creativity and ingenuity. They will provide the legal framework for combating the industrial espionage threat, but American business must do its part.
Espionage is preventable and corporate management has a responsibility to act.
It has a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to take reasonable and prudent steps to safeguard intellectual property assets. Of course, in the case of many firms whose intellectual property has direct or indirect defense value, corporate management has a share of responsibility for the nation's security. The recent A.S.I.S. report revealed that only three-quarters of the responding companies have formal programs for safeguarding proprietary information. Clearly, companies need to better understand evolving threats to information. The insider issue is one we must not ignore.