"How to do research" isn't a state secret. Graduate programs exist for the express purpose of spreading that knowledge around. It's espionage in the sense that

"How to do research" isn't a state secret. Graduate programs exist for the express purpose of spreading that knowledge around. It's espionage in the sense that a number of normal behaviors are espionage when you do them as an undisclosed agent of a foreign power, but that's not the "popcorn" kind of spy.