CFIUS and Team Telecom : foreign interests and national security in telecommunications

The United States operates an unusual system to control international investments by foreign firms, especially those wholly or partially owned by governments, through its inter-departmental Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). It is subject to considerable influence from the Congress, but is, unusually, not subject to appeals or judicial reviews. Additionally, there are controls on foreign investments in carriers exercised by Team Telecom, a committee led by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), concerned with licence transfers. Foreign operators, even from long-standing allies, have been treated warily, with the intelligence community seeking to avoid disclosing its interception and wire-tapping practices