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2 September 1998
Thanks to DH
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 12:46:14 -0700 To: jya@jya.com Subject: THE WAR OF THE ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE SERVICES http://www.intelligence.ru/english/public/n0003/t5.shtml THE WAR OF THE ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE SERVICES On December 27, 1997 the "Bonner rundschan" newspaper published some materials about the activities of the foreign intelligence services on the West German territory. The publication pays special attention to the problem of economic espionage. In particular, the interview of Hellenbroich, the former president of the Federal agency for the protection of Constitution (West German BFF), is devoted to this subject. As the retired counter-intelligence officer says, "the Russian spies are specially active in the sphere of economic intelligence". As the confirmation to this thesis, the article says that last year BFF exposed 60 Russian intelligence agents in Bonn and 56 intelligence agents in Berlin. The agents had the cover-ups of the positions in the embassy, trade mission and the joint Russian-German commercial services. In his opinion, specially active are also the special services of the Ukraine, Byelorossia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan, also of the Arab countries, Iran and the countries of the Asian and Pacific region. The former BFF leader recognized also that West Germany's partners in NATO (in particular, France, England, USA and others) are actively engaged in spying activities on its territory. Last March the German government had to declare P.Hamphris, a CIA agent who worked under the cover of the US embassy in Bonn, as a "person non grata" and him to leave the country. He tried to recruit a highly positioned official from the ministry for economy who had access to the high-tech information. It is believed that the spying activities of the foreign intelligence services on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany causes the damage to this country in the amount of 20 billion D-marks annually. According to the Prosecutor General of FRG, in 1997 alone it initiated 90 criminal charges under the article "espionage". Four people were detained and two of them were arrested on the basis of the charges, the newspaper writes. But the problem of economic espionage is of no smaller concern also for USA. According to the US magazine "Business Week", in 1996 the US FBI initiated 800 criminal charges on the facts of stealing the commercial information, which is twice as high in comparison to the 1994 level of the economic espionage. The magazine writes that in October 1996 a law entered into force in USA about the economic espionage. Under the law, the accused might be sentenced for 25-years imprisonment, and the states which sent them might be sentenced to pay the fees of up to 10 million dollars. The same crimes, committed by the American citizens against competing firms, are punished less severely. The US CIA believes that France is most active in the economic espionage. Its runner-up is Israel, Washington's "strategic partner" in the Middle East. And this takes place despite the fact that Israel holds the first place as per the amount of the US real economic and financial aid to foreign countries. The third "prize-winning" place in this spying race is held by China, which is carrying out the modernization of its rapidly growing economy. Russia is occupying the fourth place, and it is followed by Iran and Cuba, which prefer to act against the American firms in the third countries. According to CIA, the total damage of USA because of the economic espionage makes up from 25 to 30 billion dollars annually. As per France which, according to the US mass media, is specially active among NATO countries in the field of economic espionage, in this country those activities are carried out on a wide basis. Not only the French intelligence, but also private firms are engaged in that. The Association of French commercial chambers has recently establish a department of economic intelligence within its structure which is headed by Philip Claire, the former leader of the General Secretariat of the national defense of France. At the end of last year the Association of commercial chambers of France organized the national network had been set up already in 1993 by the Ministry of trade and industry of great Britain. At present, according to the British newspaper "Intelligence Newsletter", it unites 240 English companies. But the French business circles are intending to go in for a deeper integration in this field and to include into the national network of economic espionage not only the companies, but also trade associations, universities which have common interests in the field of modern know-how and commerce. Already in 1996, the Association of French commercial chambers signed an agreement with the French Ministry of Defense, under which it will get access to the information obtained in those countries where the French peacekeeping forces are carrying out their operations in order to restore law and order. Beside the African states which have been traditionally playing the key role in proving the former mother country with cheap raw materials and natural resources, this time they mean such countries as Bosnia and Cambodia. The Committee on the issues of competitiveness and economic security of France submitted its recommendations to the prime-minister about further improvement of economic intelligence. It is supposed to form up "a leading committee" to be headed by the President of the country. This Committee is meant to supervise the activities of the national organization of economic intelligence, within the framework of which there will be coordinated the efforts of different services, both governmental and private ones. It is noted, that only on the basis of the existence of a powerful system of economic intelligence, France can maintain the competitiveness of its industry on the international level, and in some areas to press out USA and the other Western competitors. This initiative did not remain unnoticed by the overseas partners of Paris in NATO. According to the US mass media, at present a project is being considered to use the American peacekeeping forces to carry out similar operations in the interests of the American companies. At the same time it is believed that under the banner of the peacekeeper, USA will study the situation on the foreign markets in order to work out practical recommendations in relation to the best possible investments of the American capitals into the post-war restoration of the economies in those countries where the civil wars are going on. V. Starosadsky