There are dozens of ways foreign countries can get their hands on U.S. military secrets, including cyberhacking, espionage, theft, and more. But one increasingly concerning way has been through unintentional disclosures by trusted defense contractors, including Boeing, 3D Systems Corp., and RTX Corp., parent company of Raytheon.

In at least three recently disclosed cases, defense contractors lacked the proper safeguards on information for parts they were manufacturing for military projects, including for airplanes, helicopters, and missile systems. The disclosures potentially endangered military personnel and, in at least one case, the secrets were used by a Chinese manufacturer to build unique technology from U.S. military vehicles.

These disclosures were not mere mistakes. The U.S. military has certain expectations when it creates or shares technical data with defense contractors. It expects that the export controls placed on the data by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) will protect that data from being accessed by foreign agents from countries like China, Russia, and Iran. It expects that companies will not violate the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) or the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) as well.