THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

And the clandestine shipping of US tecnology overseas to Russia and China and elsewhere has grown considerably since the end of the Cold War.

Foreign smugglers are trying to ship advanced American technologies — which can be used for weapons and spy equipment — to China, Russia and other adversaries at rates that outpace shadowy and illegal exports during the Cold War, according to United States officials and experts.

Since 2013, nearly 3,000 people have been swept up by Homeland Security Investigations alone for trying to smuggle weapons and sensitive technologies — including circuits or other products that can be used in ballistic missiles, drones or explosive devices. In that time, according to documents from the Department of Homeland Security, federal agents also seized more than 7,000 items, including microchips and jet engine parts, set to be smuggled out.

Exporting such items is tightly controlled by the American government to prevent hostile nations or terrorist organizations from turning them into weapons or devices that could harm the United States. In the past, such technology has turned up in improvised explosive devices in Iraq, Russian fighter jets and Chinese military satellites.

Russia, China, North Korea and Iran are some of the countries most active in trying to illegally acquire American military technology, officials said.

Adversaries have long deployed spies and black market dealers to obtain American technology. But the scale of current efforts is unusual — “worse than anything that occurred during the Cold War,” said Robert S. Litwak, the vice president for scholars and director of international security studies at the Wilson Center in Washington.

“During the Cold War, there was essentially one threat: the former Soviet Union,” said Mr. Litwak, who served on the National Security Council during the Clinton administration. “Now there are numerous threats.”

The rise is connected to an increase in foreign hackers who are infiltrating the American defense industry and technology companies to steal blueprints for weapons and sensitive technology.

“So they can sit in Iran or North Korea, out of reach of U.S. authorities, and just take what they need without trying to smuggle the item out of the country or getting someone to steal it,” said Patrick McElwain, who runs a special export enforcement unit at Homeland Security Investigations.

“It makes things difficult for us,” he added.

China and Russia have poured billions of dollars into research and development as they challenge the United States for global superpower status. But experts said their military and space programs remain years behind, unable to engineer advanced circuitry needed to match American satellites and weapons systems.

WASF! Nowadays all a hacker has to do is pretend he is from Russia and he will get Cheeto Mussolini's blessing. Still, all is not lost.MAybe we can let them steal the F-35 technology and then steal it back when they figure out how to make it work.