New Books Network Kate Epstein on How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National-Security State" (U Chicago Press, 2024)
Oct 27, 2025
Kate Epstein, an associate professor at Rutgers University-Camden and author of Analog Superpowers, dives into how technology theft shaped the national-security state. She explores the intricate ties between defense contracting, intellectual property, and government secrecy in the U.S. and Great Britain. Epstein discusses the significance of naval fire-control systems, the challenges of patent laws, and the complexities of military procurement. Her insights reveal how covert operations and historical piracy paved the way for modern technological advancements.
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Analog Computers Built Naval Fire Control
- Pollen and Isherwood built analog fire-control systems that were the era's most sophisticated analog computers.
- Kate Epstein ties their technical work to legal fights over IP and national-security secrecy.
Discovery Via A Law Seminar Footnote
- Epstein discovered the case Pollen and Isherwood v. Ford Instrument via a law seminar reading on the state secrets privilege.
- That footnote pulled her from an article plan into a transatlantic book project.
Disciplinary Blind Spot Around IP And Security
- Legal historians of IP often ignore national security secrecy, while military historians ignore law.
- Epstein argues this disciplinary gap hides conflicts where secrecy and IP collide.
