National Security & International Trade

V&E’s National Security & International Trade practice assists foreign and domestic clients in navigating the web of U.S. national security laws and regulations and related compliance risks that apply to cross-border transactions. Our team has extensive experience advising clients in reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), in all manner of export controls and economic sanctions matters, and in the determination and mitigation of foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI) over cleared U.S. contractors, as well as in obtaining and maintaining facility and personnel security clearances. Team members offer a wealth of government experience, including prior service in multiple CFIUS member agencies as well as the armed services. We currently and in the past have obtained personnel security clearances at various levels, including Top Secret/SCI and Q/Restricted Data.

Our practice is internationally recognized and includes practitioners recognized by Chambers USA (2020) and Chambers Global (2020) for their CFIUS and Export Controls and Sanctions experience.

CFIUS

V&E’s CFIUS team has successfully handled well over one hundred transactions filed with CFIUS and has evaluated far more foreign investments for CFIUS considerations. We have advised clients in nearly every industry, including aerospace, defense, automotive, chemicals, energy infrastructure, oil and gas, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, ports and shipping, and others. Our clients have included purchasers, sellers, and minority investors, including private equity firms, foreign government-owned entities, and publicly-traded and private companies. Our CFIUS practitioners have extensive experience with negotiating CFIUS mitigation measures and assisting clients with implementing these measures and developing related compliance programs. Our practitioners also have built relationships with CFIUS-member agencies over many years, such as the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy and the Department of the Treasury.

EXPORT CONTROLS & ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

V&E has a leading Export Controls and Economic Sanctions practice. Our lawyers have experience representing clients before all of the U.S. federal agencies involved in the control of exports, including the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, U.S. Department of State (DDTC), Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce (BIS), Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of the Treasury (OFAC), Census Bureau, and Departments of Defense, Justice, Energy, and Homeland Security as well as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). We have deep experience representing clients before all federal agencies involved in the control of exports and specific experience with export control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by DDTC, the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) administered by BIS, the nuclear export controls administered by the NRC and Department of Energy, as well as the economic sanctions administered by OFAC.

FOCI MITIGATION AND FACILITY CLEARANCES

V&E is regularly called upon to assist companies with the process of obtaining a facility security clearance (FCL) and mitigating foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI) in order to obtain or maintain a FCL pursuant to applicable national industrial security regulations, such as the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM) administered by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) (formerly the Defense Security Service (DSS)). We have experience assisting large and small companies with obtaining a FCL and have prepared proxy agreements, special security agreements (SSAs), security control agreements (SCAs), and board resolutions and related implementing plans and procedures for clients in a variety of industries who have some amount of foreign ownership and wish to perform on classified contracts.