September 16, 2022
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On September 15, 2022, the President issued the first Executive Order (“E.O.”) in the nearly 50-year history of the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or the “Committee”) to provide explicit guidance for CFIUS in conducting national security reviews of covered transactions.[1] The E.O. does not legally alter CFIUS processes or legal jurisdiction, but rather elaborates on certain existing factors that the Committee is mandated by statute to consider,[2] and adds further national security factors for the Committee to consider, when it is evaluating transactions. The E.O. comes as the U.S. Government is increasingly focused on strategic competition—particularly regarding the national security implications of critical technologies, critical infrastructure, and sensitive personal data—and builds on the expansive CFIUS authorities codified in the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 and implementing regulations.[3] Importantly, the E.O. continues the momentum established with recent legislation enacted by Congress,[4] as…
