Securing knowledge in organizations: lessons from the defense and intelligence sectors

The interest in the field of knowledge management continues to grow at an astounding rate. An organization must leverage its core competencies, which are mostly knowledge-based resources, in order to survive and thrive in the current marketplace. While there are many studies addressing how one should leverage knowledge assets, the work on how we can secure our existing knowledge assets and processes is scant. While private sector organizations have long taken knowledge security for granted, this is not the case in the intelligence and defense sectors of the government, especially those involved with issues of national security. In this case study analysis, we will draw on key insights from investigating knowledge security protocols in five such organizations. This case study takes the first steps towards investigating the security dimension of knowledge management. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.