The FBI is the lead law enforcement agency for a variety of national security concerns, including espionage, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, economic espionage, and cyber and physical infrastructure protection. The White House and others have estimated that the theft of U.S. technology and sensitive economic information by foreign intelligence services and competitors approaches a hundred billion dollars annually. It is therefore both prudent and necessary that we provide information to those who are potentially targeted by this activity.

The Awareness of National Security Issues and Response (ANSIR) Program is the "public voice" of the FBI's National Security Awareness Program. ANSIR provides unclassified national security threat and warning information to U.S. corporate security directors and executives, law enforcement, and other government agencies.

The ANSIR program focuses on the "techniques of espionage" when relating national security awareness information to industry. Discussing techniques allows us to be very specific in giving industry representatives tangible information to help them decide their own vulnerabilities. These techniques range from the compromise of industry information through "dumpster diving," where foreign intelligence services and competitors may try to obtain corporate proprietary information, to the use of sophisticated listening devices. Through the ANSIR program and the discussion of techniques of espionage, corporations are able to learn from the experiences of others, enabling them to avoid adverse results.

Information is disseminated nationwide via the ANSIR-Email network. Each of the FBI's 56 field offices has an ANSIR coordinator and is equipped to provide unclassified, national security threat and awareness information to corporate recipients within their jurisdiction. For instance, the large military presence here in Hampton Roads, Virginia supports hundreds of defense contractors who work with critical technologies or sensitive economic information often targeted by foreign intelligence services or their agents. The Norfolk FBI's ANSIR Coordinator is Special Agent David L. Griggs, (DGRIGGS@LEO.GOV). SA Griggs maintains contact with industry leaders and security directors in Hampton Roads for updates on current national security issues.

Along with awareness, the ANSIR program provides information about the FBI's unique "response" capability with regard to issues of national security. The FBI has primary jurisdiction for a variety of criminal and counterintelligence investigations which impact on national security. For instance, the passage of the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 created new areas of FBI response to the wrongful acquisition of intellectual property. It also encourages corporations to consider how best to protect their proprietary information or trade secrets from both domestic and foreign theft.

For information about the FBI's national security programs and also to receive initial information which may result in a response by the FBI, U.S. corporations should contact their local FBI field office's ANSIR Coordinator. In the Norfolk, Virginia area, contact SA David L. Griggs at DGRIGGS@LEO.GOV.