The definitive history of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and its vital role in national security
Highly Confidential is the first comprehensive history of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the powerful yet little-understood US government body that reviews foreign investment in the United States for national security risks. Drawing on thousands of previously unreleased government documents obtained through requests under the Freedom of Information Act, archival research at presidential libraries, and interviews with current and former officials, the book reconstructs how CFIUS evolved from a marginal, advisory paper tiger into one of the most consequential and critical tools of American economic statecraft.
Blending original historical research with insights from real-world practitioners gleaned from CFIUS's ordinary-course reviews and some of its toughest enforcement cases, the book challenges widely repeated but often inaccurate accounts of CFIUS's origins, legal authorities, and major cases. It traces CFIUS's role across five decades of debates over foreign ownership, globalization, and national security, from early Cold War–era concerns about technology leakage to the Soviet Union to contemporary controversies involving China, semiconductors, and sensitive data. The book also examines CFIUS's recent transformation into an enforcement-oriented regulator and offers concrete, experience-based recommendations for reform.
Written for policymakers, scholars, practitioners, and informed readers interested in US national security matters, Highly Confidential is an essential guide to one of the least understood—but most important—national security regulators.
Reviews
"Luci Hague has done something rare: opened the archives of an institution built to work behind closed doors and made its history matter to the choices facing us now. Her research and practical judgment make this essential reading for anyone who cares about protecting American security while sustaining the nation's openness to investment."—Heath Tarbert, former assistant secretary of the Treasury and CFIUS policy chair
"Highly Confidential offers an indispensable history of the US model of investment screening for national security that has profoundly influenced—and continues to shape—the development of investment screening regimes across Europe and beyond."—Steffen Hindelang, professor of international investment and trade law at Uppsala University, Sweden
About the Author
Luci Hague is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Washington, DC. Widely recognized as one of the world's best CFIUS lawyers, she advises investors, companies, and policymakers on complex national security, foreign investment, and enforcement matters. She received her JD from Georgetown University Law Center.
