Ep. 99: Mara Hvistendahl, The Scientist and the Spy: China, the FBI, and Industrial Espionage

The Realignment

Technology, News Commentary, National Security, Marshall Kosloff, International Relations, News, Public Policy, Economics, Politics, Saager Enjeti, U.s. Politics, Policy

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2021

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mara Hvistendahl, investigative reporter at The Intercept, joins The Realignment to discuss her book, The Scientist and the Spy (a Realignment best book of 2020), U.S.-China relations under Obama, Trump, and Biden, industrial espionage, and the past, present and future of the FBI. Visit The Realignment’s Bookshop storefront to purchase The Scientist and the Spy: https://bookshop.org/lists/marshall-and-saagar-s-2020-recommendations/edit

Transcript

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0:00.0	Saga and Marshall here welcome back to the realignment.
0:04.0	With the Monsanto case, the entire case was brought,
0:14.0	ostensibly, to protect innovation in the United States.
0:19.0	But the seed industry is a highly concentrated industry
0:24.0	where that's controlled by just a few companies.
0:27.0	And even in the course of my reporting, Monsanto was acquired by Bayer.
0:33.0	So by the end of the case, it was no longer even an American company.
0:39.0	So it was irony of the US government expending massive resources,
0:43.0	trying to protect the IP of an American company.
0:46.0	And the company just leaves it at its borders.
1:00.0	This week we are very excited to bring you Mara Viston Doll.
1:03.0	She is author of Scientists and the Spy,
1:05.0	a true story of China, the FBI, and industrial espionage.
1:09.0	So true realignment fans will know that this book was actually on my list
1:14.0	with the best books that I read in 2020.
1:17.0	Mara's book just came out in paperback.
1:19.0	We wanted to have her on the show to explain this just incredible story of industrial espionage.
1:25.0	It starts literally the book starts with a person, a Chinese man,
1:29.0	who was stopped by a cop in the middle of Iowa,
1:32.0	in the middle of all these corn fields.
1:34.0	And he's like, what the hell are you doing here?
1:36.0	From there, it spirals into one of the most fascinating industrial espionage cases
	...

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