The COVID-19 pandemic has created market conditions ripe for
increased cross border investment as businesses scramble for
capital and investors target distressed assets. In response,
countries are using existing or new foreign direct investment (FDI)
review tools to protect sensitive domestic industries and other
interests. For example, the European Commission recently called
upon its member states to use (or implement) FDI screening tools to
protect European strategic assets1 and Australia's
Foreign Investment Review Board lowered the monetary threshold for
FDI review to zero, thereby subjecting all foreign investments into
Australia to review by the FIRB.2
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
is no exception. Senior Department of Defense officials have
recently and repeatedly stressed the need for the active use of
CFIUS reviews to protect against "adversarial capital coming
into our markets for nefarious means" 3 during the
current
