Implementing Change at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) // Foreign Investment

Episode 4: Global Foreign Investment Podcast Series

Since 1988, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has been a leader in conducting national security-focused reviews of inbound foreign investments. In 2018, the scope and process of CFIUS reviews changed dramatically with the enactment of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA), the first change to the law governing CFIUS since 2007.

In the fifth podcast in our series with the leaders implementing foreign investment review processes around the world, Jonathan Gafni, head of Linklaters US Foreign Investment practice in Washington and former member of CFIUS, welcomes Thomas Feddo, founder and principal of Rubicon Advisors. Previously, as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security, Mr. Feddo led CFIUS during its implementation of FIRRMA.

Topics discussed during the podcast include:

• The effectiveness of FIRRMA in meeting CFIUS’s substantive and administrative objectives
• Hurdles encountered during the development of the regulations implementing FIRRMA
• Challenges facing Paul Rosen, Mr. Feddo’s recently confirmed successor as Assistant Secretary for Investment Security
• Proposed U.S. legislation to create a “reverse CFIUS” reviewing national security implications of outbound U.S. investments
• The interplay between sanctions regimes and CFIUS