National Security

Overview

With the U.S. government and other nations ramping up their use of economic and trade tools to conduct foreign policy in recent years, national security issues have become increasingly important to businesses with a global footprint. Crowell’s National Security team regularly helps clients navigate these complex and multidisciplinary matters, including:

  • Transactions under review by the government;
  • Trade matters such as export controls, sanctions, and other regulatory exclusions;
  • Government contracting matters, including in the classified space;
  • National security investigations; and
  • Other types of government scrutiny of business transactions and practices that impact national security law or policy.

Our team combines decades of experience in private practice with extensive government service, allowing us to provide both practical, real-world experience and an insider’s perspective on the constantly evolving national security landscape. Crowell’s team includes former government national security lawyers, federal and state prosecutors, congressional investigators, and White House staff.

Key Areas

Our experience focuses on the following key areas:

Foreign Investment and Participation
Our team counsels both buyer and seller corporate clients on managing formal and informal considerations involved in obtaining approvals for foreign investment and participation involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS); the Mitigation of Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence (FOCI); and the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector (Team Telecom). This experience further helps clients mitigate issues that arise with foreign ownership, control, or influence, which can have a significant impact on businesses. In addition, the team advises clients regarding transactions and licensing applications under review by Team Telecom, formally known as the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector. Our lawyers also assist clients in commenting on rulemaking and in understanding and shaping changes to the statutory and regulatory authorities that govern this area.

Anti-Bribery/Anti-Corruption
As the government continues to focus on corporate corruption, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), our lawyers represent Fortune 100 clients in evaluating risk and self-disclosure considerations, building compliance programs from the ground up, and conducting corruption-related due diligence and risk assessments to minimize attention from U.S. regulators, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At the same time, the National Security team, including our former FCPA prosecutors, defend clients in corporate and individual investigations.

Economic Sanctions and Export Controls/AML
Our team represents software, manufacturing, defense, financial services firms, and other companies with a cross-border footprint, as well as leading public and private universities and contractors that manage and operate U.S. government-owned National Laboratories, on economic sanctions, export controls, anti-money laundering (AML) laws, and similar authorities on which the U.S. government is increasingly relying to accomplish its national security and foreign policy goals. Our lawyers have held significant federal government positions and have decades of collective experience in this area. In addition to close regulatory counseling on U.S., U.K., EU, and other authorities, we draw on our institutional knowledge and focus on long-term strategy to represent clients on internal investigations, and on our ability to combine our regulatory subject matter knowledge with our white collar investigations experience to assist clients with external civil and criminal enforcement.

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
The proliferation of cyber-attacks makes cybersecurity and privacy compliance more important than ever, particularly as criminal ransomware attacks and nation-state or state sponsored attacks target government contractors, information security providers, and others that may use sensitive technologies or critical infrastructure. Our national security team, many of whom maintain security clearances, helps businesses navigate the prevention of and response to incidents impacting sensitive government systems, Controlled Unclassified Information, Sensitive Security Information, classified information, and personal information, including those threats linked to Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs).

National Security Investigations and Litigation
Our national security team recognizes the unique challenges presented by national security investigations, where the evidence can be classified, probable cause to support Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants is presented in secrecy, and few law firm lawyers have the experience working on these matters from the inside of government. We assist individuals and companies alike in navigating this thorny landscape, including leveraging our government experience representing the government before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), and handling National Security Letters.

Government Contracts/Classified Contracting
Crowell’s nationally, Chambers-ranked Government Contracts team covers virtually every variant of national security issues facing government contractors, including the National Industrial Security Program and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)/Insider Threats, classified contract suspension and debarment (including the U.S. military’s vendor vetting process), classified and national security litigation (including protests and contract claims and appeals), investigations, and counseling.

Government Service

While our team is always evolving, some of the government roles our team members have held include:

  • Inspector General of the United States Intelligence Community
  • Chief Counsel, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
  • Assistant Director for Transnational Threats, OFAC
  • Attorney-Advisor, Enforcement & Intelligence, U.S. Department of the Treasury
  • Chief of Staff, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
  • Chief of Staff, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
  • Chief of Staff, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
  • Legal Expert, Al-Qaida/Taliban Monitoring Team, United Nations Security Council
  • Chief Counsel, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
  • Attorney-Advisor, FinCEN
  • Attorney-Advisor, National Security Division, DOJ
  • Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, DOJ, National Security Division, National Asset Protection
  • Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, DOJ, National Security Division
  • United States Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia, DOJ
  • United States Attorney, Southern District of Texas, DOJ
  • Acting United States Attorney, Eastern District of New York, DOJ
  • Trial Attorney, Fraud Section, Criminal Division, DOJ
  • Trial Attorney, Criminal Enforcement Section, Antitrust Division, DOJ
  • Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
  • Acting Administrator, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
  • Chief Deputy, District of Columbia Attorney General’s Office
  • First Assistant Attorney General, New Jersey Attorney General’s Office
  • Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee
  • Staff Director to the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control
  • Senior Counsel and Branch Chief, Enforcement Division, SEC

Insights

Firm News | 3 min read | 03.04.24

First-Chair Federal Prosecutor Andrea Surratt Joins Crowell & Moring

Andrea Surratt, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in both the Southern District of New York and the District of Colorado, has joined Crowell & Moring’s Denver office in the White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement Group.

Representative Matters

Anti-bribery/Anti-corruption

  • Leading self-reporting to both the SEC and DOJ and orchestrating all remediation efforts on behalf of Ralph Lauren Corporation for conduct in Argentina, including risk assessments, compliance and training reviews and implementation, and negotiating precedent-setting dual non-prosecution agreements (NPAs) with the SEC and DOJ.
  • Drafting and implementing anti-corruption compliance policies and procedures including the Local Compliance Officer Handbook and third-party due diligence materials for a medical device manufacturer.
  • Advising a publicly traded company during its pre-acquisition due diligence and post-acquisition due diligence of acquiree’s operations in South America, including an investigation involving in-country interviews, document collection and review, compliance policy assessments, and coordination with the client in conducting a post-acquisition risk assessment and compliance program implementation.
  • Representing Magyar Telekom Nyrt. during a six-year internal and DOJ/SEC investigation concerning conduct in southeastern Europe, helping the company defend itself, revamp its anti-corruption program and controls, negotiate a two-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the DOJ and Consent Settlement with the SEC, draft annual DPA compliance reports to the DOJ and SEC, and secure dismissal of the criminal information upon conclusion of the DPA.

CFIUS and Team Telecom

  • Identified national security implications in a number of potential transactions, advised clients on whether to submit a voluntary notice to CFIUS, and counseled clients through every stage of the CFIUS review process.
  • Obtaining CFIUS approval on a complex global transaction involving a leading automobile parts manufacturer.
  • Representing a private equity firm in the sale of a U.S. portfolio company engaged in the manufacture of advanced composite materials used in aircraft (among other industries) to a Turkish strategic buyer in a CFIUS review.
  • Obtained CFIUS clearance for a transaction involving a U.S. engineering services firm and a minority investment by an Australian defense contractor.

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy

  • Representing one of the largest U.S. insurance companies in litigation against a global pharmaceutical company involving the highly publicized NotPetya cyber-attack. The dispute involves up to a $1 billion loss due to this significant network interruption that public reporting has attributed to a nation state actor.
  • Representing a U.S. technology company in an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and DOJ into the “Cloud Hopper” cybersecurity attacks that compromised the networks of several major companies and were led by a hacking group working for China’s Ministry of State Security known as Advanced Persistent Threat 10 (APT10 Group). The investigation resulted in a federal indictment of the hackers in 2018.
  • Managing a multi-year investigation of global operations for a technology company regarding advanced threat actors targeting the company and its customers. Our response activities included Five Eyes coordination, high level briefings, government document demands, and regular engagement and technical exchanges with federal law enforcement, all of which resulted in the indictment of two foreign hackers associated with APT 10.

Government Contracts/Classified Contracting

  • Advising several clients on reporting and other obligations under the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM).
  • Assisting businesses in the classified space to navigate the process for obtaining facility security clearances.
  • Advising companies on Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement (DFARS) rules on safeguarding classified and other controlled or sensitive government information entrusted to them.
  • Conducting a comprehensive physical security assessment and providing a gap analysis for major government contractor, in coordination with a technical expert, and assisting on developing a best practice compliance program.

National Security Investigations and Litigation

  • Representing an individual in an investigation arising out of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related activities.
  • Representing a former federal agent in a criminal investigation regarding issues of foreign influence.
  • Representing multiple current and former government officials in connection with security clearance renewal and related issues.

Sanctions, Export Controls, and AML

  • Representing a non-U.S.-headquartered bank relating to the DOJ’s criminal money laundering investigation of the $4 billion 1MDB embezzlement scandal, resulting in non-prosecution.
  • Representing the former chief AML officer of a large U.S. bank before the DOJ in a criminal Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) investigation, leading to a declination to prosecute by the DOJ, and successfully representing the same person in a civil BSA investigation before the DOJ and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
  • Successfully representing a Fortune 100 manufacturer in responding to an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) subpoena relating to the company’s lawful sales into Iran during the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
  • Securing the first exemption granted by the UN Security Council’s Committee Established Pursuant to Resolution 1718 to a non-governmental organization for export of otherwise controlled products to North Korea as part of a multidrug resistant treatment program.
  • Responding to, and successfully closing without penalty or a finding of violation, an OFAC subpoena related to a Russia sanctions matters on behalf of a U.S. information and software provider.
  • Responding to, and successfully closing without penalty or a finding of violation, an OFAC subpoena relating to transactions conducted from Iran, Syria, and North Korea by a cryptocurrency exchanger.
  • Representing a U.S. exporter and its Japanese parent in a directed disclosure involving the export of microelectronics technology to Hong Kong that was transshipped to China. We prevailed in a reclassification of technology that resulted in no license required for China.

Insights

Firm News | 3 min read | 03.04.24

First-Chair Federal Prosecutor Andrea Surratt Joins Crowell & Moring

Andrea Surratt, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in both the Southern District of New York and the District of Colorado, has joined Crowell & Moring’s Denver office in the White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement Group.

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Professionals

Insights

Firm News | 3 min read | 03.04.24

First-Chair Federal Prosecutor Andrea Surratt Joins Crowell & Moring

Andrea Surratt, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in both the Southern District of New York and the District of Colorado, has joined Crowell & Moring’s Denver office in the White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement Group.