In 1996, increasing foreign threats to the trade secrets of American companies led Congress to pass the Economic Espionage Act (EEA), which criminalizes the theft of trade secrets with the intent to benefit a foreign government in 18 U.S.C. § 1831. In the sixteen years since its passage, the EEA has largely failed to curb trade secret theft by foreign governmental actors, and the U.S. economy has suffered billions of dollars in losses due to economic espionage. While the FBI and DOJ have prioritized economic espionage investigations and prosecutions in recent years, only six convictions under § 1831 of the EEA have resulted since 1996. This Note evaluates the stated policies underlying the EEA, and argues that narrow judicial treatment of cases involving economic espionage under § 1831 conflicts with the goals of Congress and frustrates the prosecutorial objectives of the DOJ. This Note posits that recent legislation amending the EEA -- the Foreign and Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act, which passed in January 2013 -- indicates Congress's desire to broaden the elements of § 1831 of the EEA. While this Note recognizes certain problems inherent in the EEA itself, it concludes by advocating an expansion of the recent amendments to the EEA in order to fulfill Congress's goal of reducing international theft of American trade secrets.