The purpose of this course is to widen the professional engineer’s understanding of engineering ethics through consideration of three case studies. The studies are actual espionage cases that have been successfully prosecuted by agencies of the Federal government. Espionage was chosen as the subject of the case studies because it provides exposure to ethical situations which are important but probably unfamiliar to most PEs. The engineering ethics aspects of the cases are developed by showing which standards of conduct for engineers were violated by the actions of the convicted engineers. This course is intended for professional engineers interested in increasing their understanding of the applicability and relevance of engineering ethics.  This course is based on the document, “Engineering Ethics—Case Studies in Espionage,” written by Mark Rossow, April 14, 2023.

Learning Objectives:

• Knowing the motivations for typical cases of espionage
• Learning how to relate a type of crime to a specific standard of conduct
• Understanding common types of economic espionage
• Recognizing state regulatory laws for engineers as a source of engineering ethics principles
• Learning about laws governing the distribution of industrial secrets to foreign governments