The Lawfare Podcast: Why Businesses Need to Take Espionage Seriously

Jen Patja, Quinta Jurecic, Bill Priestap, Holden Triplett
Tuesday, December 1, 2020, 12:00 PM
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“American companies are in a bind.” So argue Bill Priestap and Holden Triplett, who have written a series of articles for Lawfare making the case that more and more state intelligence agencies are turning their attention to private businesses, using the tools of espionage in order to build their own economic power. Both writers are speaking from experience: Priestap ran the FBI’s counterintelligence division from 2015 to 2018, and Triplett led the FBI office in Beijing from 2014 to 2017 and was deputy head of the FBI office in Moscow from 2012 to 2014. Quinta Jurecic sat down with them to discuss why countries have started to use their intelligence services in this way, what dangers this creates for American businesses and why counterintelligence risks are hard to intuitively understand.


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Jen Patja

Jen Patja

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Jen Patja is the editor and producer of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.
Quinta Jurecic

Quinta Jurecic

@qjurecic
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Quinta Jurecic is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a senior editor at Lawfare. She previously served as Lawfare's managing editor and as an editorial writer for the Washington Post.
Bill Priestap

Bill Priestap

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Bill Priestap is a founder of Trenchcoat Advisors, a firm that helps businesses protect themselves from nation-state threats. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. He led the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division from 2015 to 2018.
Holden Triplett

Holden Triplett

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Holden Triplett is a founder of Trenchcoat Advisors, a firm that helps businesses protect themselves from nation-state threats. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. From 2017 to 2018, Holden was the Director for Counterintelligence at the National Security Council. He led the FBI office in Beijing from 2014 to 2017 and was deputy head of the FBI office in Moscow from 2012 to 2014.

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