David Shedd, former deputy director and acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Andrew Badger, a former case officer at DIA, have released the book “The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets,” offering a detailed expose of China’s alleged state-sponsored theft of Western technology and its impact on global power dynamics.
How Does “The Great Heist” Reveal China’s Espionage Campaign & Rise to Global Power?
The book lays out how the Chinese Communist Party directs a state-orchestrated espionage campaign targeting America’s most advanced technologies.
In the book, Shedd and Badger describe how the CCP deploys a “whole-of-society” strategy to steal intellectual property, proprietary technology and defense secrets. According to the authors, China has exploited human and cyber vulnerabilities and expanded its covert operations to accelerate its technological ascent, enabling it to save trillions of dollars in research and development costs since the 1990s.
The “Great Heist” illustrates how industrial theft, coupled with decades of Western inaction, facilitated China’s rapid transformation from a developing nation to a global superpower.
The authors base their findings on exclusive investigations and interviews with intelligence officers, senior policymakers, corporate security teams and victims of espionage. The book includes a strategic playbook designed to help the U.S. and its allies counter China’s campaign.
Get your copy of The Great Heist here to explore David Shedd and Andrew Badger’s definitive account of China’s state-orchestrated espionage campaign.
David Shedd at the 2025 Intel Summit
David Shedd took the stage as a panelist at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Intel Summit in October. He joined Mark Kelton, Frank Miller, Dennis Wilder and moderator Derrick Reig on the lunch panel, “Guarding Innovation: Safeguarding Research and IP in the Era of Strategic Competition with China.”
Before the discussion, Shedd spoke with Executive Mosaic’s Charles Lyons-Burt, sharing his insights on the growing threat posed by China, the increasing ubiquity of counterintelligence efforts and his perspective on the current intelligence landscape.
Watch the full interview with David Shedd on YouTube and subscribe to Executive Mosaic’s channel for exclusive insights with top government and industry leaders.
