Most large foreign embassies in the U.S. have some number of persons whose job includes intelligence collection. So intelligence is an entirely normal activity for government. The Hanssen Case See an excerpt of the government's charges against Robert Hanssen. Read the complete affidavit listing alleged acts of espionage by the veteran FBI agent. Learn about what some feel might have motivated Hanssen's alleged treason.
Many intelligence officers get their data through relationships with American intelligence agencies.
What the foreign agents hope to learn is also more complicated than James Bond films would have us believe. The first order of business for foreign spies is to know who we have spying on them. If we have decided that we don't want them to know something, then that is an indication to them that they should try to find it out. Sometimes, merely getting access to internal operations is valuable, regardless of what information such activities actually uncover. The Center's annual report found that spying on U.S. companies targeted technologies like weapons, guidance systems, navigation methods, electronics and information warfare, among others.