Senior US law-enforcement and intelligence officials have warned that aerospace and artificial-intelligence research hubs in the US are facing a sophisticated new human-intelligence threat: so-called “sex warfare” tactics allegedly deployed by agents aligned with the Silicon Valley ecosystem. A recent investigation by a British newspaper reports that operatives from both Russia and China are cultivating romantic or marital relationships with US tech insiders to gain access to critical trade secrets and defence-adjacent projects.
Method of operations and emerging patterns
According to counterintelligence experts, the technique often involves attractive women engaging US engineers, entrepreneurs or researchers via professional networks — such as LinkedIn connection requests — or appearing at conferences uninvited. In several documented cases, the same type of young women contacted dozens of professionals across similar industries, often with the same cover story. In other instances, targets are said to marry their contacts and have children, embedding long-term access to sensitive data or networks without detection.
Strategic significance and estimated impact
The wider context is the escalating competition between the United States, Russia and China for dominance in emerging technologies including semiconductors, artificial intelligence and defence systems. Experts estimate that the annual cost of trade-secret and intellectual-property theft to the US economy may exceed hundreds of billions of dollars. The “sex-warfare” tactic is described as a human-intelligence complement to cyber-intrusion and financial-influence campaigns, leveraging the openness of American society to gain an asymmetric advantage.
Responses and warnings from Washington
US agencies are increasingly warning technology firms to strengthen both digital and human-risk management. Intelligence officials argue that the culture of openness which has helped Silicon Valley thrive is now being exploited by adversaries. One former counterintelligence officer noted that such tactics reflect a systematic effort to merge emotional manipulation with state-sponsored espionage, blurring the line between personal and geopolitical domains.
Implications for international security and innovation ecosystems
The rise of relationship-based infiltration carries far-reaching implications for the protection of innovation, the integrity of academic and corporate partnerships, and the stability of Western technology policy. If left unchecked, these methods could compromise not only individual companies but entire sectors vital to national security. While reminiscent of Cold-War-era “honeypot” operations, the shift from government institutions to private-sector laboratories shows how espionage has adapted to the modern innovation landscape.
Why Ukraine and allied democracies should take note
Although the phenomenon currently centres on the United States, allied nations — including European and NATO partners — face similar vulnerabilities. As Ukraine’s defence and technology industries deepen cooperation with Western partners, the same espionage strategies could be redirected toward joint projects or dual-use innovations. This underscores the need for coordinated intelligence sharing and industrial-security frameworks across allied democracies.
