Visionary Looks Ahead - Thomas M. Cooley Law School

feature“This was a very sensitive investigation of ‘one of ourown,’ an agent I thought I knew personally, someonewho betrayed not only our trust but that of everycitizen of the United States.” eDwARD GiBSOn (DeTHMeRS CLASS, 1981)BRINGING DOWN A SPYGibson can’t discuss much of his case work with the FBI,but he can acknowledge being part of several high-profileespionage investigations that brought down some doubleagents in the 1990s.Gibson played lead roles in the financial investigations of AldrichAmes, a CIA agent arrested for espionage in 1994; and EarlEdwin Pitts, a 13-year veteran of the FBI who became a doubleagent working for the Russian government.Gibson spoke mostly about the investigation of Pitts, whowas arrested for espionage following a 16-month “false flag”investigation that had federal undercover agents posing asRussian spies.“This was a very sensitive investigation of ‘one of our own,’an agent I thought I knew personally, someone who betrayednot only our trust but that of every citizen of the UnitedStates,” said Gibson. “It involved electronic and physicalsurveillance, ‘dead drops,’ seizures of property derived fromhis criminal activities and prison, where he remains today.”Gibson and the FBI found that Pitts had received more than$224,000 from the KGB and its successor, the SVRR. From1987 until 1992, Pitts actively worked for the Russian governmentwhile also serving as an FBI special agent in New YorkCity. When a transfer to Washington, D.C. limited Pitts’access to confidential information, he was shifted to a dormantcapacity within the Russian intelligence organization.In order to catch Pitts, the FBI used a cooperating witness inaddition to the U.S. agents who posed as SVRR officers.Together, they made Pitts believe that he was being contactedagain by the SVRR and got him to conduct fake espionage-typeactivities (a.k.a., false flag), all while the FBI was working toascertain the scope and content of Pitt’s past espionage efforts.In the end, the FBI got its man. In 1997, Pitts was sentencedto 27 years in prison.A MOVE ABROADIn 2000, Gibson was assigned to the FBI’s flagship overseasoffice, the U.S. Embassy in London. There, he was in chargeof all FBI investigations involving the use of the Internet, suchas cyber attacks, bank frauds, theft of intellectual property,cyber terrorism, crimes against children, blackmail, kidnapping,extortion, and industrial espionage in the United Kingdom andthe Republic of Ireland.It was this experience that Gibson credits with putting him inthe cyber spotlight, a front man for the cyber communitywho was looking to protect citizens while bringing down thebad guy who sat behind a computer screen.During his first year in London, he worked with a Welshconstabulary to identify and arrest a computer hacker namedCurador (real name: Raphael Gray) who had compromisedseveral U.S. banks, stolen more than 26,000 credit card numbers,and posted those numbers to the Internet in early 2000.The 18-year-old Gray represented the first arrest of an internationalcyber hacker. Hundreds of other cyber investigationsfollowed with many arrests and convictions.MAKING THE INTERNET SAFERAfter leaving the FBI, Gibson remained in London to acceptMicrosoft’s offer to be its chief cyber security advisor in theU.K., a timely move particularly during a time of change in thesoftware industry. Organized crime was becoming more techsavvyand was using the Internet as part of its efforts. At thesame time, hackers and malicious groups were creating havocby inventing problems that would, in effect, shut down orseverely hamper companies.(continues)BENCHMARK FALL 2010 COOLEY.EDU15