CFIUS Report Highlights Concerns For Contractors Involved With Critical Technologies

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) released December 20, 2012, the unclassified version of its Annual Report to congress for CY 2011.  For the first time CFIUS made a finding that the U.S. Intelligence Community "judges with moderate confidence that there is likely a coordinated strategy among one or more foreign governments or companies to acquire U.S. companies involved in research, development, or production of critical technologies for which the United States is a leading producer."  The "critical technologies" at issue are defined with  reference to U.S. export control regulations, and include (1) defense goods and services controlled on the U.S. Munitions List; (2) certain items on the Commerce Control List that are controlled for reasons of national security, chemical and biological weapons proliferation, nuclear nonproliferation, or missile technology, as well as those that are controlled for reasons of regional stability