(This article was originally published in Law360 and has been modified for the blog.) Peter Navarro, assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy, recently offered in a New York Times op-ed that “[a] strong manufacturing base is critical to both economic prosperity and national defense.” The Trump Administration’s maxim that “economic security is … Continue Reading
The Department of Defense (“DoD”) recently released the summary of its cyber strategy for 2018. The 2018 DoD Cyber Strategy, which replaces the DoD’s 2015 cyber strategy, is focused broadly on “defending forward,” shaping day-to-day competition, and preparing for conflict. But the strategy includes items that are sure to be of interest to contractors and … Continue Reading
Generating and sustaining the United States’ global economic and military superiority over more than the last half century has depended on a dominant U.S. global economic position and perpetual technological innovation. The United States has increasingly relied on a global industrial supply chain and a relatively open environment for foreign investment in early stage technology … Continue Reading
As the Senate approaches the end of its debate on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, provisions of the bill regarding access to and review of information technology code deserve close attention. These sections, if enacted, would significantly impact Department of Defense contractors and also would affect matters associated with investments subject … Continue Reading
Since August 2015, defense contractors have been on notice that they were required to implement the security controls in National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) Special Publication (“SP”) 800-171 no later than December 31, 2017 on covered contractor information systems. Although the focus has been on meeting this deadline, contractors should add to their … Continue Reading
Uncertainty surrounding the policies of the new administration is felt across industries. In particular, U.S. and Israeli defense industries are anxious for details of a ten-year, $38.8 billion military assistance package that was signed in Washington this past September. Whether the terms of the aid package are upended entirely or left mostly unchanged by the … Continue Reading
On June 3, 2015, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar signed a 10-year defense framework agreement during Secretary Carter’s 10-day trip to the Asia-Pacific region, which included a stop in India. This framework agreement comes at a time when the United States and its allies are stepping up defense … Continue Reading
While members of Congress, the news media, and the American public debate the merits of President Obama’s new strategy to confront ISIS in the Middle East, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, participated in a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday on this topic. Kaitlyn McClure of Covington’s … Continue Reading
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy introduced a new version of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2014 (the “USA FREEDOM Act” or “Act”) in the Senate on Tuesday, more than two months House of Representatives passed a version of the bill that omitted several … Continue Reading
On July 28, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives (“House”) passed three cybersecurity bills, the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2014 (H.R. 3696) (“NCCIP Act”), the Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act (H.R. 2952) (“CIRDA Act”), and the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act (H.R. 3107) (“Boots-on-the-Ground Act”) with broad bipartisan support. … Continue Reading
On July 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided Ralls Corporation v. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States — the first ruling by a federal circuit court on a CFIUS case. Ralls, a U.S. company owned by two Chinese nationals, sued CFIUS in connection with an order by … Continue Reading
Budget challenges, a shrinking military force, and unrestrained growth in personnel and operations has plunged the Pentagon into a state of crisis. This comes at the same time that the United States is facing unprecedented challenges to our national security. These were the themes of my presentation during a panel discussion at the Center for … Continue Reading
Defense trade with India has long been the holy grail for the U.S. defense sector. With U.S. defense budgets declining and defense firms increasingly looking overseas to ramp up sales, one would think that India — a democracy in Asia with one of that largest militaries in the world in desperate need of modernization — … Continue Reading
When the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act last week, one of the unanswered questions hovering over the measure was how much money the Pentagon would need for the war in Afghanistan. At the time the bill passed, the Administration had not decided whether U.S. forces would remain in Afghanistan after 2014. … Continue Reading
The House of Representatives is now considering the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) reported out the $513 billion measure on May 7th rejecting many of the Administration’s requests including reduction in military pay raise, authority for the base closures, as well as cancellation of older weapon … Continue Reading
