Significantly Increased Workload Taxing Ability of CFIUS to Do Its Job, Says GAO
The Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S., on whose recommendation President Donald Trump blocked Broadcom’s proposed Qualcomm buy on national security grounds (see 1803140057), faces workload challenges that may threaten “its ability to fulfill its objectives and address national…
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security concerns,” GAO reported Friday. CFIUS “staff levels may not be sufficient to complete committee functions” because “the volume of transactions reviewed” increased more than 50 percent 2011-2016 with no corresponding increase in employees assigned to do the work, said GAO. Adding to that pressure was the growing “complexity of those reviews in terms of technology, transaction structure, and national security concerns,” it said. The Treasury Department, “as CFIUS lead,” needs to better coordinate efforts at the committee's 10 member agencies to bolster understanding of "the staffing levels needed to address the current and projected CFIUS workload associated with core committee functions,” it said. Treasury, in written comments for the report, said it’s working with the Office of Management and Budget “to determine current resource levels across the CFIUS member agencies and has encouraged agencies to assess their staffing needs,” it said. However, “Treasury noted that CFIUS does not have a centralized budget, and Treasury does not have the authority over CFIUS staffing levels at member agencies.”