US national security and foreign direct investment

Abstract

This article examines US foreign investment policy in the historical and current security contexts and provides an analytical discussion on the trends in foreign investment review on national security grounds. It finds that the concept of national security has been gradually broadened to include economic security, critical infrastructure, and homeland security as components of national security. This has allowed the foreign investment review process to become highly politicized. The article concludes that national security is far too important to be mixed with domestic political debates on economic and social concerns from foreign takeovers.