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China is engaged in a whole of state
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effort to become the world's only
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superpower.
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It was scary how persistent they were in
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how they did not care that they could be
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caught at any time. I will show you what
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I have after you show me the
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This is the formula for the glass. This
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is secret. It's confidential. You
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understand that, right?
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Pittsburgh Corning Corporation's
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flagship facility is situated in
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Sadelia, Missouri, a small city in the
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heartland of America. It's a facility
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that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a
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year.
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Our manufacturing facility is 2 hours
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away from the closest major uh US city.
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So, you think you're safe there and you
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would think that nothing was going to
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happen there, especially from people
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from out of the country. How would they
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even find us out there? But they did.
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The company manufactures cellular glass
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insulation under the trademark foam
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glass and recently made significant
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breakthroughs in their
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formulation. A few months after
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announcing they'd been opening in China,
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they discovered some uninvited visitors
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in their
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facility. They just walked in. So when
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we confronted them, we dismissed them
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out of the plant and we dismissed it to
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a trespassing violation. So, we are
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definitely going to follow up with local
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law enforcement on a trespassing
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violation, but we also had a security
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consultant at the time. He said, "Call
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the
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FBI." We started our investigation on a
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complaint call from the United States
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Company that complained that they had
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two Asian trespassers that came into
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their factory.
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They had torn the factory and filmed the
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location for an undetermined amount of
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time. We went to their location,
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investigated, found out the identities
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of the two trespassers, and then found
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out that it looked like they could be
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involved in the industry that this US
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company is.
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[Music]
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As the FBI investigated, it unfolded
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more clearly. We had had contact from
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the same gentleman at our corporate
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headquarters. He actually called and
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said he was interested in investing in
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the company. He wanted to come and get a
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tour.
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[Music]
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The tour is rejected, but a few weeks
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later, an ad is published in a local
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newspaper looking for a US engineer with
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specific formulary knowledge to go to
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China and start up a new
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business. From that ad, we decided to
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conduct undercover
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operation. Once we got into the details
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about the uh extent of the engineering
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knowledge that our undercover employee
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would need to have, it just made more
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sense for us to borrow a US company
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employee that already had that
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knowledge. And we could instruct them
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and assist them uh with the undercover
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operation.
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That was probably the part that
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concerned me the most because it was
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dealing directly with the safety of one
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of our co-workers. And in in this
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situation, we did have an employee who
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was willing to do it. Through the work
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with the FBI, the coaching was there.
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All of the specifics were put forward to
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allay those
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[Music]
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fears. We started a email exchange in
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response to that newspaper classified
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ad. Right off the bat, once we submitted
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the resume of the employee, they were
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very interested. As a matter of fact,
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they were not questioning any of his
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credentials. They wanted to hire him and
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have him come back to China to tour
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their potential plant within a matter of
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weeks. We needed to slow them down to
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sort of discuss how this would play out
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and also meet with the company to
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explain exactly what the potential
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operation could be.
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The idea was that we would lure them
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over here to exchange money for this
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company's proprietary and trade secret
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information. So we arranged for the
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following week that Julie Hang was going
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to have other business here in the
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United States and he agreed to come and
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meet this uh employee.
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Ji Huang is the CEO of Ningbo Oriental
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Crafts Limited with 200 factory workers
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to manufacture promotions products for
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exports to the US and
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Europe. A few weeks later, he's at a
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Kansas City restaurant with his
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translator named
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Chi. So, we set it up to where they met
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at a
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restaurant. We miked the employee up. We
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instructed him and gave him uh certain
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clues. We had certain words. Right off
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the bat at that restaurant, they were
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very interested in the information he
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had to provide. They were very happy to
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pay $100,000 and wanted wanted the
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exchange to happen right away.
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The undercover employee agrees, but says
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he'll have to return to the facility in
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order to get everything Hang has
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requested.
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They agreed to meet the next morning and
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exchange the trade secret information
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for the cash.
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Come in.
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Oh, this this room is nice. I was trying
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to rest. Oh, go ahead and sit there.
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[Music]
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Last long night. Let's put this down
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here. We're going to need light here in
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a minute. Yeah. So, how was your
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evening?
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Very tired. Very tired. Very tired. I
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was able to get everything that was on
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the list.
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[Music]
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Everything. I have two discs.
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The employee needs to confirm that the
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men are fully aware that what they're
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doing is illegal.
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Plot the security.
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Yeah. Again, you know, I could get in a
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lot of trouble, but I think we'll be
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okay from what I did last night.
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You guys got something for me this
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morning? Yeah. Yeah. So, you you show us
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the I will show you what I have after
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you show me the money.
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Okay. Okay.
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So, the door is is secured. No.
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Yes. Don't worry about the door.
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In reality, the FBI are just outside the
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door waiting on a signal to come in and
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make the bust.
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[Music]
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Okay, this now understand this is the
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formula for the glass.
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This is secret. Uh it's confidential and
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you understand that, right?
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So when you hide this in your luggage,
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you need to make sure that nobody can
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see it.
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But this talks about how much this is
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the secret right here. How much of these
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we put in?
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[Music]
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You're underrest.
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Stand up. Stand up. Turn around. Stand
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up. Turn around. Turn around.
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Stay right there. Put your hands behind.
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45-year-old CEO Ji Huang and his
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31-year-old employee Xiao Guong Chi
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plead guilty to conspiracy to steal
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trade secrets for the purpose of opening
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a plant in China to compete with
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Pittsburgh
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Corning. This US company is considered
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an industry leader in the material that
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they make. It took them 20 plus years to
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develop that specific trade secret
00:09:06
information. If they were able to
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reproduce that product in China and
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re-shipped to the United States, the
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company estimates within 3 to 5 years
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that they could potentially lose jobs
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and be out of
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business. It was scary how persistent
00:09:23
they were and how they did not care that
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they could be caught at any time.
00:09:31
Obviously, these people walked into our
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facility and yes, we saw them there and
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we questioned them and the story had a
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happy ending, but any other time it
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could have been missed and and uh could
00:09:42
have been too late. I I'm here to tell
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you that the
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the attack is is imminent and it is
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aggressive and it's relentless. We've
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now reached the point where the FBI is
00:09:57
opening a new China related counter
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intelligence case about every 10
00:10:02
hours. China is engaged in a whole of
00:10:05
state effort to become the world's only
00:10:08
superpower.
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So right now the estimate from the FBI
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and the China Economic Council is
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approximately $400 billion to $600
00:10:18
billion a year is being stolen by the
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Communist Party of China just from what
00:10:23
we know prosecuted just from the
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Communist Party of China just from the
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theft of trade secrets and intellectual
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property 400 to600 billion a year. So
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what does that mean for you and I?
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That's about $4,000 for each of us after
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taxes.
