CFIUS takes steps to implement a Known Investor Program

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is poised to make the most substantial revisions to its review process for foreign investments into U.S. businesses since its rules were overhauled in February 2020.

What you need to know

• In February 2025, the Trump Administration announced an expedited “fast-track” review process as part of its America First Investment Policy to facilitate the injection of more capital from investors of allied countries into U.S. businesses involved with advanced technologies and other critical industries.
• Taking direction from the President, CFIUS has begun developing a Known Investor Program by which eligible foreign investors can voluntarily provide information to CFIUS in advance of a submission for a specific transaction to expedite subsequent reviews.
• CFIUS now seeks public input on the Known Investor Program and ways CFIUS can streamline other aspects of its foreign investment review process.

Background and RFI

CFIUS is tasked with reviewing certain covered transactions involving foreign investment into U.S. businesses and certain real estate transactions by foreign persons to determine the effect of those transactions on U.S. national security. Through a mix of required and voluntary submissions from foreign investors, as well as self-initiated investigations of non-notified transactions, CFIUS focuses on the potential threats to U.S. critical technologies and infrastructure, sensitive data and proximity to key military installations. Many investors from “excepted” countries, including Canada, already receive certain benefits under the existing CFIUS rules.

On February 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), as the Chair of CFIUS, issued a Request for Information (RFI) to the public with the goal of advancing enhancements to its process of reviewing foreign investments in U.S. businesses that may implicate national security. Treasury has set March 18, 2026, as the deadline for responses to the RFI.

The RFI includes three components: (1) background on CFIUS and Treasury’s efforts to implement an expedited process mandated by the President; (2) proposed eligibility criteria to participate in CFIUS’s Known Investor Program and a draft questionnaire for eligible participants; and (3) requests for feedback from the public to assist in developing the Known Investor Program and other ways in which CFIUS can streamline its processes.

Known Investor Program

A key element of the RFI is the opportunity for stakeholders to provide input into the development of the Known Investor Program. Treasury’s solicitation of public comments on the Known Investor Program follows a confidential pilot program among a limited number of foreign investors conducted during the second half of 2025.

As an initial matter, the RFI identifies the proposed eligibility criteria to participate in the Known Investor Program. Among the anticipated criteria for which Treasury requests public comment are that a foreign investor (1) has notified CFIUS of at least three covered transactions within the past three years; (2) expects to submit at least one covered transaction within the next 12 months; and (3) is not organized, nor has its principal place of business, in an “Adversary Country”, which currently lists China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and the “regime of Venezuelan politician Nicolas Maduro”¹.

The RFI additionally identifies, and seeks the public’s input on, the types of information that CFIUS expects to request from participants in the Known Investor Program. Such information includes an investor’s organizational structure, governance and key control personnel, investment strategy, business activities and the investor’s connections to Adversary Countries.

The specific requests in the RFI ask the public to help shape the Known Investor Program by, for example, pointing out items that could be clarified, identifying additional criteria or important information that should be requested from participants and opining on challenges that could arise in connection with implementing the program.

Streamlining the CFIUS process

In addition to the Known Investor Program, the RFI also seeks feedback on areas where CFIUS can increase efficiencies and enhance its processes related to case reviews, non-notified transactions, mitigation, monitoring and enforcement.

The requests ask, for example, what features of the CFIUS process can be simplified, how pre-notice consultation can be improved, the factors parties consider in deciding whether to voluntarily notify a transaction and changes CFIUS could make to the risk mitigation process.

What’s next

Following the RFI’s comment period, CFIUS appears it will implement a Known Investor Program and possibly adopt other recommendations to streamline its process. We will continue to monitor and report on further developments.