Friendly spies

Friendly Spies is a look into the murky world of economic espionage carried out by our closest allies to gain a competitive advantage over American companies. Countries such as Japan, Germany, France, South Korea, and Israel may be U.S. political allies, but they are also our economic rivals, and their intelligence operations reflect that reality.

Based on exclusive interviews with more than seventy intelligence officials from U.S. and foreign spy agencies, Friendly Spies sheds light on dozens of espionage operations aimed at U.S. economic targets. The sophisticated intelligence and covert operations of giant Japanese multinational corporations such as Mitsubishi and Hitachi are described in detail. Schweizer also chronicles how the KCIA (South Korean intelligence) recruited a top aide to the U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, in Operation White Snow; reveals the contents of a secret CIA report, which estimates that 80 percent of Japanese government intelligence assets target U.S. companies; and explains why in the 1980s senior Japanese government officials collected intelligence on the sexual habits of U.S. government personnel for possible use as blackmail. French intelligence operations run against U.S. companies are described, including the activities of the secret unit known as Service 7. The shocking story of Operation Monica, a West German intelligence mission that involved a spy ring in the Nixon White House, is revealed for the first time, including details about the two White House agents: Monica's Big Sister and Little Sister. Friendly Spies also describes how in 1989 a West German spy seduced an employee at a New England biotech company to gain access to secrets, and uncovers the workings of Operation Rahab, a top-secret German intelligence program to develop an espionage capability through computer "hacking.". Looking beyond the Pollard case, Friendly Spies outlines numerous instances of Israeli industrial espionage against U.S. companie