CSIS Review of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States

December 6, 2016

Congress passed the Foreign Investment and National Security Act (FINSA) in 2007. FINSA was the first significant legislative reexamination of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) since 2001. Today, in 2016, there is a much greater role for cross-border mergers and acquisitions—especially those from China—as well as growing participation in transactions by new players, including private equity firms whose ownership structures are frequently nontransparent. The time is right, therefore, to examine how well the CFIUS process is functioning under changing conditions and whether there are areas for improvement. CSIS’s study is based on the most recent data and draws on the expertise of stakeholders involved in the process.