K-Chair Lecture: Soviet Scientific, Technological, and Industrial Espionage

The Institute of World Politics is the independent graduate school of national security, intelligence, and international affairs, dedicated to developing leaders with a sound understanding of international realities and the ethical conduct of statecraft, based on knowledge and appreciation of the founding principles of the American political economy and the Western moral tradition.

The Institute of World Politics

Join Conrad Bertez for a look at Soviet technological espionage, Western vulnerabilities, and lessons for today’s geopolitical landscape.

The Institute of World Politics, Commodore Barry Room

About the Lecture:This lecture is provided to IWP by the Kosciuszko Chair as a Military Lecture in Honor of General Walter Jajko.The lecture is a primer on “peacetime” Soviet technological espionage that separates the matter into three periods: The 1920s to World War 2, the end of World War 2 to the 60s, and the 1960s to the end of the Soviet Union. It covers the motivations behind Soviet industrial espionage, its structure, its scope, the methods employed, and the Western vulnerabilities that the Soviet Union was able to take advantage of. Drawing parallels between the Cold War and the current geopolitical situation, the lecture comes to the conclusion that the Soviet technological espionage apparatus developed iteratively over the course of decades of experimentation until it affected every stage of the Western technological production process. This Soviet espionage was successful in large part because of Western naivety, policies of appeasement, and the unwillingness of Western nations to prioritize their security over the pursuit of commercial advantage by conducting trade with the Soviet Union.

About the Speaker:Conrad Bertez spent his undergraduate years at Yale focused on macroeconomic business cycles. Afterward, he worked in Switzerland as a journalist covering international finance. He then studied international economics at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, which led him to work as an economist at J.P. Morgan’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa emerging markets desk. There, repeated interactions with U.S. economic statecraft initiatives sparked his interest in international relations and geopolitics. Driven by a desire to contribute to U.S. international economic policy, he then spent a brief period at CSIS, where he primarily worked on issues relating to economic coercion. He is now studying at the Institute of World Politics to better understand the national security factors that drive U.S. economic statecraft initiatives.

IWP Events Policy:Attendance at all IWP events requires an RSVP in advance. In addition, prospective attendees must receive an e-mail confirmation from IWP indicating that seating will be available for them at the event. A government-issued ID that matches your name on the confirmed attendee list must be presented at the door for admission to any event. The use of photographic or recording equipment is prohibited except with advanced permission from IWP, the event organizer, and the speaker(s).IWP is a private organization; as such, all attendees are guests of the Institute.

K-Chair Lecture: Soviet Scientific, Technological, and Industrial Espionage

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K-Chair Lecture: Soviet Scientific, Technological, and Industrial Espionage

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