This book talk will explore the core arguments and evidence presented in “The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets”, a detailed examination of state-directed intellectual property theft as a central mechanism of contemporary strategic competition. Authored by Dr. David R. Shedd, former Acting Director and Deputy Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and Andrew Badger, former DIA case officer, the book draws on extensive intelligence experience to analyze how the Chinese Communist Party has allegedly pursued a coordinated, whole-of-society approach to acquiring foreign technology and strategic know-how.

The discussion will trace case studies across aerospace, semiconductors, telecommunications, and artificial intelligence, situating industrial espionage within broader debates on economic statecraft, military modernization, and technological diffusion. Moving beyond descriptive accounts, the talk engages the implications of the book’s findings for scholars of international security, political economy, and intelligence studies, and considers the policy, institutional, and governance responses required to protect innovation in an era of intensifying geopolitical rivalry.

Speaker Bio: Andrew Badger is a former DIA case officer and graduate of the CIA’s elite training program. He served on the front lines of human intelligence operations, including a 2014 deployment to Afghanistan in support of US military operations. In the private sector, Badger has advised global firms such as McKinsey & Company and Deutsche Bank on geopolitical risk. He holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard and a master’s in diplomatic studies from the University of Oxford, where he is a research associate and lectures on state sponsored espionage.