mr. smith: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: first of all, i want to thank judiciary committee chairman-elect and mel what the for their work on this bill. this deters and pun issues criminals who target u.s. economic and security interests on behalf of foreign interests. dynamic and globally information economy, the protection of intangible assets is vital not only to individual enterprises and entire industries. criminals have shifted personal information such as credit cards to the theft of corporate intellectual capital. our intelligence community has warned us that foreign interests plays a high priority on a sensitive economic information and technologies. in the u.s., the economic espionage act serves as the primary tool the federal government uses to project secret valuable information from theft. our intelligence community declares that there is a quote, significant and growing threat to our nation's prosperity and security end quote posed by criminals both inside and outside our borders who commit espionage. congress should recognize this increasing threat by adjusting our penalties so we c