A riveting true story of industrial espionage in which a Chinese-born scientist is pursued by the U.S. government for trying to steal trade secrets, by a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction. In September 2011, sheriff’s deputies in Iowa encountered three ethnic Chinese men near a field where a farmer was growing corn seed under contract with Monsanto. What began as a simple trespassing inquiry mushroomed into a two-year FBI operation in which investigators bugged the men’s rental cars, used a warrant intended for foreign terrorists and spies, and flew surveillance planes over corn country—all in the name of protecting trade secrets of corporate giants Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer. In The Scientist and the Spy, Hvistendahl gives a gripping account of this unusually far-reaching investigation, which pitted a veteran FBI special agent against Florida resident Robert Mo, who after his academic career foundered took a questionable job with the Chinese agricultural company DBN—and became a pawn in a global rivalry. Industrial espionage by Chinese companies lies beneath the United States’ recent trade war with China, and it is one of the top counterintelligence targets of the FBI. But a decade of efforts to stem the problem have been largely ineffective. Through previously unreleased FBI files and her reporting from across the United States and China, Hvistendahl describes a long history of shoddy counterintelligence on China, much of it tinged with racism, and questions the role that corporate influence plays in trade secrets theft cases brought by the U.S. government. The Scientist and the Spy is both an important exploration of the issues at stake and a compelling, involving read.

One of the preeminent natural philosophers of the Enlightenment, Benjamin Thompson started out as a farm boy with a practical turn of mind. His inventions include the Rumford fireplace, insulated clothing, the thermos, convection ovens, double boilers, double-paned glass and an improved sloop. He was knighted by King George III and became a Count of the Holy Roman Emperor. Thompson's popularity with women eclipsed his achievements, though. He was married twice and had affairs with many other prominent women, including the wife of Boston printer Isaiah Thomas and that of a doctor who would crew the first balloon to cross the English Channel. He even fathered a child by the court mistress of the Prince Elector and had affairs with several other German noblewomen. Drawing on Thompson's correspondence and diaries, this book examines his friendships and romantic relationships.

This book is a commentary in the form of a journal. It is meant to be something like a diary kept by a tourist or a spy of his travels in a strange land, recording questions and observations and opinions on everything he sees for other travelers on the same road. It could be also called a dialogue because the author records the conversation that he has with Genesis as he moves along, and the conversation he has with himself in the privacy of his motel room. In both ways it is the account of a journey with the idea that it may be of some use to others traveling the same road. The author is writing as an amateur to other amateurs. He is not a professional theologian nor a biblical scholar, and while his intent is to think as deeply and truly as he can, he is not doing so as a professional. There are several advantages that an amateur may have over a professional in a case like this. First the amateur can be much bolder in what he questions and in the answers he considers. The professional always has something on the line, always something at risk, namely his reputation. He cannot venture far off the beaten path without being in some danger of losing his respectability. The amateur, on the other hand, has little respectability to lose and little reputation to risk. What Dr. Boswell would not be able to risk in mathematical writing he can be quite at liberty to risk in this project. It can be exhilarating. Secondly the amateur has a much friendlier connection with the average reader. The amateur is something of an equal with the average reader, though presumably with something to say worth the hearing. Since they are introduced as equals, the reader can feel safer, less threatened, more entitled to join in the conversation that the author is trying to create. With a professional author there is always the sense of obligation that one should not argue back with the scholar; only another scholar has the credentials to join in their conversation, and the rest of us must sort it all out as best we can. But with this book there is no need of restraint; anyone can be drawn in to the discussion, anyone can feel entitled to disagree, with impunity. It can be exhilarating. This book is not meant to be a "Bible made simple" book. It is written by someone who loves to think and is written for others who love to think. It is written by someone who is not timid about difficult questions and is written for others who have no fear of such things. But most of all it is a book written for the pure joy of the thing and for those who might share that joy.

The riveting story of the hundred-year intelligence war between Russia and the West with lessons for our new superpower conflict with China 'A masterpiece' CHRISTOPHER ANDREW, author of The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5 'The book we have all been waiting for' BRENDAN SIMMS, author of Hitler: A Global Biography 'Gripping, authoritative... A vivid account of intelligence skulduggery' Kirkus Espionage, election meddling, disinformation, assassinations, subversion, and sabotage - all attract headlines today about Putin's dictatorship. But they are far from new. The West has a long-term Russia problem, not a Putin problem. Spies mines hitherto secret archives and exclusive interviews with former agents to tell the history of the war that Russia and the West have been waging for a century. Espionage dark arts were the Kremlin's means to equalise the imbalance of arms between the East and West before, during and after the Cold War. There was nothing 'unprecedented' about Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. It was business as usual, new means for old ends. The Cold War started long before 1945. Western powers gradually fought back after the Second World War, mounting their own shadow war, deploying propaganda, recruiting intelligence networks and pioneering new spy technologies against the Soviet Union. Spies is an inspiring, engrossing story of the best and worst of mankind: bravery and honour, treachery and betrayal. The narrative shifts across continents and decades, from the freezing streets of St. Petersburg in 1917 to the bloody beaches of Normandy; from coups in faraway lands to present-day Moscow, where troll farms weaponise social media against Western democracies. This fresh reading of history makes Spies a unique and essential addition to the story of the unrolling conflict between Russia, China and the West that will dominate the twenty-first century.

Scholars have long viewed intelligence as the preserve of nation states. Where the term 'private sector intelligence' is used, the focus has been overwhelmingly on government contractors. As such, a crucial aspect of intelligence power has been overlooked: the use of intelligence by corporations to navigate and influence the world. Where there has been academic scrutiny of the field, it is seen as a post-9/11 phenomenon, and that a state monopoly of intelligence has been eroded. Beyond States and Spies demonstrates - through original research - that such a monopoly never existed. Private sector intelligence is at least as old as the organised intelligence activities of the nation state. The book offers a comparative examination of private and public intelligence, and makes a compelling case for understanding the dangers posed by unregulated intelligence in private hands. Overall, this casts new light on a hitherto under investigated academic space.

This collection of titles encapsulates the greatest writings of all time on how to succeed and to grow in power, wealth and prosperity. Contents: Sun Tzu - The Art of War Nicсoló Machiavelli - The Prince Wallace D. Wattles - The Science of Getting Rich

The first historical study of export control regulations as a tool for the sharing and withholding of knowledge. In this groundbreaking book, Mario Daniels and John Krige set out to show the enormous political relevance that export control regulations have had for American debates about national security, foreign policy, and trade policy since 1945. Indeed, they argue that from the 1940s to today the issue of how to control the transnational movement of information has been central to the thinking and actions of the guardians of the American national security state. The expansion of control over knowledge and know-how is apparent from the increasingly systematic inclusion of universities and research institutions into a system that in the 1950s and 1960s mainly targeted business activities. As this book vividly reveals, classification was not the only—and not even the most important—regulatory instrument that came into being in the postwar era.

Sh-h-h-h-h-h!! Top Secret... Crack the code of superspy science fun! Make your own spy sunglasses * Write messages with invisible ink * Hook up a secret alarm, and much more! Discover how spies use science to keep--or uncover--top secrets.Learn how to go under cover, master Morse code, and even builddevices to see and hear through walls! These and dozens of otherfun-filled activities give you an inside look at the science behindspy gadgets and tricks of the trade. All the activities arecompletely safe and can be done with everyday stuff from around thehouse.

This book contains kid-tested cool top secret spy projects using biology, chemistry, and physics and will inspire young science buffs to experiment with their own ideas. Kids will learn how to Observe, Hypothesize, Test, and draw a Conclusion by using The Scientific Method. Included with the experiments are detailed step-by-step instructions with original photography, material lists, an explanation of the science behind the fun, real-world applications of the principles behind the project, tips and project variations, and suggestions of what to keep track of in a science journal. A glossary and index is also included.