Keeping up with CFIUS: A Practitioner’s Report on National Security Trends in the United States

Since the enactment of the Foreign Investment Risk Review and Modernization Act of 2018, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (or CFIUS or the Committee), has enjoyed some of its broadest authority since its establishment almost fifty years ago. Tasked with screening cross-border transactions that 'threaten to impair the national security of the United States', the Committee has discretion to define 'national security', and historically the definition has evolved with, among other elements, the geopolitical tenor of the day. Most recently, the Committee's focus has been mostly on foreign investment in U.S. businesses involved with sensitive personal data, critical technologies or critical infrastructure.