Silicon Valley firms hire former intelligence and law enforcement personnel to protect their intellectual property

"The semiconductor firms from which Silicon Valley derives its name established the tradecraft for the firms that followed them. They were hypercompetitive and paranoid about trade secret theft, and often hired former intelligence and law enforcement personnel to protect their intellectual property.

“Security and secrecy have always been an important part of Silicon Valley’s nature because it’s a highly competitive industry,” Ms. O’Mara said.

In addition to Uber’s recruitment from the C.I.A., Google, Facebook and Amazon poached hackers from the National Security Agency to fend off cyberattacks, former Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to staff teams responsible for fielding law enforcement requests and former Pentagon officials to advise on defense contracts.

Image-conscious Silicon Valley executives were often reluctant to discuss where the hires came from, and keen to avoid criticism that they were employing the same intelligence gathering techniques the government used. Still, executives were eager consumers of the skills these employees could provide."