CDSE case study Library

Your awareness is key to protecting our national security.

Explore a growing repository of U.S. case studies. Learn about the crimes, the sentences, the impact, and the potential risk indicators that, if identified, could have mitigated harm.

You may search these case studies by various criteria including gender, type of crime, and military affiliation. Individual case studies contain information such as plea, court (Court Martial, US District Court, and Federal), year convicted, age at time of conviction, job, employer, country of concern, method of operation, method of contact, technology, indicators, and sentencing.

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NEWEST CASE STUDIES

Joshua

Joshua Schulte

Crime: Espionage

Peter

Peter Kisang Kim

Crime: Economic Espionage

Gilbert

Gilbert Basaldua

Crime: Economic Espionage

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SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES

Study analyzed accounts of real-world security activities, events, or threats to build awareness and help identify the impacts of adverse behavior on National Security.

Aiding Terror Group

Knowingly providing, or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization is punishable by up to 20 years and, if anyone is killed as a result, up to life in prison.

Cyber Crimes

Any attempted or successful access to, exfiltration of, manipulation of, or impairment to the integrity, confidentiality, security, or availability of data, an application.

Economic Espionage

Up until the passage of the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, many people used the phrases “Economic Espionage” and “Trade Secret Theft” interchangeably. Many people actually still do, but there is a difference. Economic Espionage is defined under §1831 of the Act and comprises behavior that denies the rightful owner of the economic benefit of property that the owner has gone to reasonable means to protect and does so with the intent to benefit a foreign entity. Economic Espionage also involves the loss of U.S. information to a foreign entity.

Foreign Espionage

Intelligence activity directed towards the acquisition of information through clandestine means.

Fraud

Fraud is defined as the wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain. Fraud includes false representation of fact, making false statements, or by concealment of information.

Illegal Export

US export laws and regulations restrict the export of controlled information, goods, and technology for reasons of national security or protection of trade.

Mishandling Classified Information

Improper handling of classified documents can happen. Sometimes the mishandling is unwitting, but it can also be a potential risk indicator for Insider Threat. Knowing how to handle these situations is crucial to protecting our nation's secrets.

Sabotage

An act or acts with intent to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defense of a country by willfully injuring or destroying, or attempting to injure or destroy, any national defense or war materiel, premises, or utilities, to include human and natural resources.

Targeted Violence

Targeted violence incidents are tragic, often unpredictable and evolve quickly. There are a number of targeted violence resources, and this toolkit tab is one of them—to help organizations and their workforces understand targeted violence, what to look for and report with regard to indicators and behaviors, and how to respond in the event of an active shooter incident or other workplace violence event.

Unauthorized Disclosure

Unauthorized disclosure is the communication or physical transfer of classified or controlled unclassified information to an unauthorized recipient. An unauthorized recipient can be anyone. They can be your friends or family members, acquaintances, coworkers, or even superiors within your agency, command, or company who may be appropriately cleared but don’t have a need-to- know. They can be potential employers who see what you post on social network sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. They can even be media outlets and foreign intelligence services. You never know whose hands such information will fall into. Unauthorized Disclosure of classified information is a type of security incident that can be characterized as an infraction or violation depending on the seriousness of the incident. Unauthorized disclosure of classified Information can happen in various ways. It can be disclosed either intentionally or accidentally and can occur through leaks, spills, espionage, or not following proper safeguarding procedures.