Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage [Hardcover]

Eamon Javers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2010

In this penetrating work of investigative and historical journalism, Eamon Javers explores the dangerous and combustible power spies hold over international business.

Today's global economy has a dark underbelly: the world of corporate espionage. Using cutting-edge technology, age-old techniques of deceit and manipulation, and sheer talent, spies act as the hidden puppeteers of globalized businesses. They control markets, determine prices, influence corporate decisions, and manage the flow of data and information of some of the world's biggest corporations. In his gripping and alarming book, Eamon Javers takes the reader inside this hidden global industry. Readers meet the spies who conduct surveillance operations, satellite analysts who peer down on corporate targets from the skies, veteran CIA officers who work for hedge funds, and even a Soviet military intelligence officer who now sells his services to American companies.

This industry has tentacles in almost every industry in almost every corner of the globe. Intelligence companies and the spies they employ are setting up fake Web sites to elicit information, trailing individuals and mirroring travel itiner-aries, Dumpster-diving in household and corporate trash, using ultrasophisticated satellite surveillance to spy on facilities, acting as impostors to take jobs within companies or to gain access to corporations, concocting elaborate schemes of fraud and deceit, and hacking e-mail and secure computer networks. The work of this industry can be ingenious, but it also raises crucial moral and legal questions in a world where global conflicts are as likely to be corporation versus corporation as they are to be nation versus nation.

This globalized industry is not a recent phenomenon, but rather a continuation of a fascinating history. The story begins with Allan Pinkerton, the nation's first true "private eye," and extends through the annals of a rich history that includes tycoons and playboys, presidents and FBI operatives, CEOs and accountants, Cold War veterans and military personnel. Built on exclusive reporting and unprecedented access, this book features accounts of Howard Hughes's private CIA, the extensive spying that took place in a battle between two global food companies, and interviews with some of the world's top corporate surveillance experts.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The tools and tricks once used in the name of geopolitics have increasingly been applied to the private sector, according to this engaging overview of the rise of corporate espionage. With the end of the Cold War, spies on both sides of the Iron Curtain discovered there was money to be made renting out their skills to clients in such fields as pharmaceuticals, banking, and agriculture. Although the historical sections can drag in places, the book gathers steam every time Javers turns his focus to the technologies that have moved the field forward. From early wiretaps to the use of satellites, the author expertly explains how spies help clients sabotage corporate competitors or buy and sell stocks based on expected fluctuations in the price of corn. Generally more interested in strategy and gadgets than the ethical components of spying, the book flirts with painting a romantic picture of the profession before noting the less-than-glamorous occupations of corporate spies, including participating in the battle for supremacy in the pet food market.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Journalist Javers traces spying activity, which began in Washington, D.C., in 1790, when the city became the capital, through the Civil War, when Allan Pinkerton was chasing Confederate spies, to Allen Dulles and the CIA developing drugs to enhance interrogations and in 2002 capturing traitor Robert Hanssen. The author also offers a fascinating explanation of the role of spies in today’s world economy with hundreds of firms globally in the corporate espionage business using as operatives alumni from the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, British M-15 and Russian KGB, and military intelligence officers. Firms are available in the private market from diverse independent contractors with backgrounds including SEC investigators and investigative reporters. Javers recommends that spy firms be revealed to the public through a spy register comparable to lobbying firms’ disclosure rules and be coordinated by the SEC. He contends, It’s time for the spy firms to come in from the cold. This is a must-read, excellent book. --Mary Whaley

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1 edition (February 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061697206
• ISBN-13: 978-0061697203
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining and informative read, May 13, 2010

By 

Michael Wiacek (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage (Hardcover)

Picked this up before a long flight. It's an excellent book. The stories are engaging and supremely interesting. If you would like to learn more about the world of corporate spies, this is a good book to read. I can't wait to finish it on my flight home.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Read, February 15, 2010

By 

P. Lee (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage (Hardcover)

An eye-opening account of corporate espionage, the book ranges from the historical antecedents to today's civilian cloak and dagger to new and groundbreaking reporting of today's CIA agents being permitted to moonlight for corporations. This book will be an introduction to many of the use and sophistication of today's corporate espionage efforts and how those efforts have become practically commonplace. The author includes many riveting interviews with corporate ex-spooks discussing their strategies and past engagements. A must-read for those interested in the intersection of business and espionage in America today.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not All It's Cracked Up To Be, March 15, 2010

By 

Jeff Kimble (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy: The Secret World of Corporate Espionage (Hardcover)

I've always been a fan of learning about the spy game. And I had always heard stories of how it pertained to the corporate world but never anything in depth. When I heard of this book, I expected a book based on facts that would place you squarely in the modern day corporate espionage arena. What I got, though, was something entirely different.

The book is a way too condensed version about the history of private eyes and how they're being used in today's fashion, with an extremely heavy concentration on the history aspects and who's connected with who. When I say "way too condensed", it is because it feels compact and hard to follow. You can read two paragraphs and it will jump through a complicated web of 15 people to get to where the author wants you to be. At times, all the names and connections can grow confusing. It also has a disorganized feel that seems to jump all over the place. You'll learn about the Pinkertons in the 1800's, follow them through a spiderweb of contacts to modern day, then jump back to 1800, all within 10 pages.

The book can also be dry at times, as it is written by an investigative reporter and never seems to shed it's journalism feel to become an in depth, captivating story. I'm not saying all journalists who are also authors write this way but this is definitely how Mr. Javers does in this case. It feels that most of the book follows a pattern like this...for 300 pages. Interweb was owned by John. John was a former CIA detective of 30 years and had known Russ. Russ brought Fred and Hank aboard, both NSA veterans, who then recruited Steve. Steve, allegedly, worked with Aaron, best friends of Garth. Now that Garth was aboard with Interweb, they could finally recruit Bob. The men went to work in an office in Washington, DC.

If you are extremely interested in the corporate espionage world or a private investigator history buff, I'd recommend it. But outside those qualifications, it doesn't warrant the full retail price tag.