Friendly Spies: How America's Allies Are Using Economic Espionage to Steal Our Secrets (Hardcover)

by Peter Schweizer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This alarmist book is less an investigation than a survey of past examples of corporate theft by foreign intelligence agents. Though Schweizer, a consultant to NBC News, quotes U.S. spymasters on the growing dangers of economic espionage, he never solidly assesses its impact and magnitude. In chapters on Japan, France, West Germany, South Korea and Israel, the author offers mini-histories of different nations' intelligence operations as well as accounts, mainly based on secondary sources, of both minor and major spy cases. Schweizer concludes with debates concerning the CIA's possible development and application of its own economic espionage capability.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
Offers an account, based on interviews with intelligence officials, of the economic espionage perpetrated by the United States' allies against the nation's businesses and government to gain a competitive edge in the world economy. 25,000 first printing. National ad/promo. Tour.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr; 1st Printing edition (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871134977
• ISBN-13: 978-0871134974
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,664,443 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reference on Our Allies Spying on US, April 8, 2000

By	Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

One hundred billion dollars annually is one White House estimate of the cost to U.S. businesses imposed by economic espionage carried out predominantly by our allies-France, Israel, Germany, South Korea, and Japan being among the top culprits. Peter Schweizer was the first to really put this issue on the table, and he deserves a lot of credit. Neither Congress nor the Administration are yet prepared to take this issue seriously, and this is a grave mistake, for in the 21st Century information is the seed corn of prosperity, and our allies are eating our seed corn.

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit dated, but interesting, April 24, 2007

By	David H. Birley (Rock Hill, SC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Schweizer has certainly done extensive and compelling research into the murky world of economic espionage. He raises some red flags that should not be ignored. However this book stops near its publication date of the mid-1990s, and that makes its content "dated". Are we doing better today? If I have to read about it from another book by Schweizer, I will probably pass on it. I found the presentation more like a textbook than a "page-turner" -- instead of saying "I could hardly put it down, I find myself recalling that I could hardly pick it up -- sometimes reading only a single page in a day.

Still, if you are interested in the clinical history of our "friends" stealing us blind for technolgical information, and bid-jumping -- hey give it a shot!