[Q]

Couslee, no my race has "average" cunning.
This is a strange difference I can't explain. The intel stealing of foreign technology was so effective in my game that I stopped doing it because I felt it too easy and unfair against the AI empires!
Are you absolutely sure that the target empire has technology that is useful for you (racial tech e.g. will not be useful). Probably a stupid question but I can't think of any other explanation.