IBM

ONCE FAMOUS FOR ITS one-word motto, “Think,” this high-technology colossus pursued ideas that included secret files and collaboration with foreign governments. In 1996, IBM was rumored to have sold two shipments of high performance computers to Russian nuclear research facilities, one in the closed city of Arzamas-16 and the other in an unknown location. A Congressional investigation noted that the United States would benefit from assuring Russia's cooperation with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CBTB) by allowing it to maintain its existing nuclear stockpile through computer simulations. The problem with IBM's activities was that the company had applied for the necessary federal license to ship the computers; when the government requested more information on how the computers would be used, IBM shortcircuited the process by ...