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I have a fighter jet designer who leads a project for a Pentagon competition. The company invests a lot of private funds which makes the project do or die. The designer is obsessed with the project and neglects his family & health. Unfortunately the much larger and well connected competitor wins the competition and his employer folds.

He loses his job, bank foreclosures his house, wife leaves him and takes the kids. And finally to add insult to the injury, he founds out that he never had a chance. The government decides upfront which big fish gets the juicy deals.

In other part of the world, there's a fictitious country which is under arms embargo from the security council. The country's dictator who is full with money from the commodity boom, decides to create indigenous fighter and looks for someone with experience to head the program.

If my american designer helps the foreign dictator build his weapon would that be illegal?

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    $\begingroup$ I think you answered your own question: the potential employer is "under arms embargo". Export restrictions cover not only actual weapon systems but also technical design know-how. Read about ITAR $\endgroup$
    – Ben Voigt
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 21:32
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    $\begingroup$ When you submit a proposal to the Department of Defense, there are all sorts of restrictions on what you can do if you are not selected. There are even restrictions placed on you when you receive the RFP (request for proposal). $\endgroup$
    – John Feltz
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 21:36
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    $\begingroup$ Also worth pointing out that individuals don't design jets - there would be dozens of subcontractors providing sub-assemblies and components. Even if the dictator wasn't under embargo, it's unlikely that the designer would be able to export his design to anyone other than an approved nation, due to ITAR regulations as mentioned above. $\endgroup$
    – Matt Bowyer
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 22:04
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    $\begingroup$ Definitely yes. The USA has some many legal restrictions on sharing its military capability with even its allies, and especially nations with each it has unfriendly relations. Most of this enshrined in US law. This is purely a legal question. $\endgroup$
    – a4android
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 23:14
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    $\begingroup$ OK, how is this about building fictional worlds? $\endgroup$
    – Mołot
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 11:20

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This isn't really about minor details like laws, it's about defection.

In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.

Your man is going over to the other side. It's illegal in the jurisdiction he's coming from, but not the one he's going to. As long as he never goes back, nothing outside the whim of his new mad dictator is legally going to hurt him.

The key though is never going back. He's effectively committed treason against the country he's come from. His chances of ever seeing daylight outside a small square surrounded by concrete walls are pretty slim if he ever tries to go home. There's also a reasonable chance he'll spend the rest of his life needing constant protection from assassins.

He really has to be believe he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. It's a one way trip.

Why laws don't apply

Laws and law enforcement bodies have a jurisdiction. This normally ends at a national border. If that border takes you to another country then the next country's laws apply. If you go to sea then the International Law of the Sea applies, along with the national laws of the country where the ship you're on is registered.

What this means is that leaving your home country is legal, going to the new country is legal, working for the mad dictator in this way is legal in your new country, illegal in your home country but outside their jurisdiction. In most cases, like smoking weed in Amsterdam, that's not a problem. In cases that could be considered treason, like giving military secrets to a hostile state, you're going to end up in a lot of trouble, but only if you go home (or to a country with an extradition treaty with your home country).

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    $\begingroup$ Hello Mr. Snowden..... $\endgroup$
    – Thucydides
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 2:02
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    $\begingroup$ @Thucydides, he is the current best known example $\endgroup$
    – Separatrix
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 8:30
  • $\begingroup$ Gerald Bull tried the same thing with Saddam Hussein building a "supergun", and came to a bad end as a result. $\endgroup$
    – Thucydides
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 16:48
  • $\begingroup$ @Thucydides I remember we all laughed about that gun. He thought you could just make it bigger but guns don't work like that. Even if it had ever been fired it would have just exploded $\endgroup$
    – Separatrix
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 16:54
  • $\begingroup$ Bull knew what he was doing, having come close to launching a projectile into orbit with Project HARP and designing world beating 155mm howitzers (the South African G-5 and G-6). $\endgroup$
    – Thucydides
    Commented Dec 24, 2016 at 22:56

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