The brand integrity department, which Philip Morris USA just established last year, is a command center for one of the major fronts in the company's campaign to hold onto its dominance of the U.S. cigarette market.
This is where about 30 people - drawn from various departments within the company - collect intelligence and spearhead the fight against what the company says is a growing trend of rip-offs and illegal sales of its cigarette brands.
Heading the unit is John E. "Jack" Holleran, who sums up its mission with a statement that sounds almost like something that would come from a military counterintelligence officer.

"Our goal is to disrupt, reduce and eliminate all this illegal activity," said Holleran, a lawyer who was named vice president of brand integrity last summer after seven years with the company.
The "illegal activity" includes several categories of cigarette marketing that the company calls "contraband." It includes:

• counterfeit cigarettes,
• smuggled or "diverted" cigarettes,
• unlawful Internet sales,
• cigarette sales that don't include required payments to states as part of the 1998 multistate tobacco settlement, and
• illegal imports or "gray-market" cigarettes, which are manufactured for sale overseas but are shipped back and sold without the company's permission.
  "It's all illegal activity, which is why we are working closely with law enforcement," Holleran said. "We've spent much of the last year crime-fighting, and also trying to build up our infrastructure."
  In addition, Holleran and other company officials have been lobbying in state legislatures for tighter restrictions on cigarette manufacturers and Internet vendors that the company argues are avoiding taxes and other required payments to state governments. Virginia recently joined other states that have passed such legislation backed by Philip Morris.
  Contraband cigarettes have been around for about as long as the government has been taxing tobacco, and counterfeits and smuggling have long been seen as a simple nuisance in the industry. But the fact that Philip Morris USA has set up a department for the specific purpose of rooting it out is a signal that the stakes have become much higher for the nation's top cigarette company.
  Indeed, major cigarette makers like Philip Morris have a lot more to worry about than lawsuits filed by sick smokers. They've come under intense attack by so-called underground manufacturers and cigarette vendors that are taking advantage of cigarette price increases to grab customers from the leading players.
  Among the chief culprits identified by the company is a tier of small manufacturers operating here and overseas that have flooded the market with super-cheap cigarettes.
  Philip Morris has fought off attacks by discount brands in the past by cutting prices, launching cheaper brands and heavily promoting premium brands. The company is using a similar strategy this time, but the circumstances are different.
  Cigarette prices have skyrocketed, in part because major U.S. companies are paying $246 billion to states as part of a 1998 legal settlement, and also because many states have increased cigarette taxes to help fill budget gaps. Both developments have made it harder for major companies to compete in pricing, and their profits have taken a hit.