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OPINION:
A version of this story appeared in the daily Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each weekday.
Amid rising tensions with our adversaries and mounting competition between world powers, my colleagues and I passed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018.
At the time, the legislation enjoyed sweeping bipartisan support, passed by a vote of 400-2, and served as the first comprehensive reform of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in over a decade.
The committee, known as CFIUS, is a cross-agency panel designed to screen potential foreign investments for national security risks. Considering the increasingly complex technological landscape worldwide, my colleagues and I fought to reform CFIUS for over two years before our bill finally passed. We wanted to implement stronger policies to combat strategic and disruptive activities by America’s adversaries, particularly China. With the crucial updates we secured in 2018, CFIUS has been working more effectively to protect America’s national security ever since.
As we added resources to CFIUS and expanded its purview, our legislation clarified that America must maintain its enthusiastic support for foreign investment, which is critical for U.S. jobs, innovation and productivity. Recently, one proposed deal awaiting CFIUS approval caught my eye. Vista Outdoors is a major U.S. sporting equipment manufacturer that owns Remington Ammunition, among a variety of other companies that sell products related to outdoor activities. This past spring, Vista entered an agreement to sell its ammunition manufacturing division to the Czechoslovak Group. Since that company, known as CSG, is headquartered in Prague, the proposed deal triggered a CFIUS review.
News of the proposed transaction prompted a member of Congress and two of his colleagues to raise concerns. As members of Congress, they play an important role in this process, and their concerns warrant a thorough response.
Since then, there have been several developments regarding the bid and speculation from observers. The basis of the criticism appears to be an opinion column alleging, without supporting evidence that I have seen, that CSG has ties to Russia, which appears to be an improbable claim given that the company’s European facilities arm Ukraine’s war efforts. While all interested parties have every right to raise questions, I strongly encourage giving CFIUS an opportunity to complete its full review free of premature analysis — especially since some believe the charges could be prompted by competitors motivated to torpedo the deal.
The purpose of the 2018 overhaul of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act was to significantly increase CFIUS’ resources and scope so that Americans could be confident the interagency team would capably defend American interests. Today, a CFIUS panel is uniquely qualified and equipped to root out potential issues with proposed transactions given the combined participation of the secretaries of treasury, state, defense, homeland security, commerce and energy, along with the attorney general, U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. This comprehensive oversight committee is fully capable of delivering an accurate assessment.
As we await the results of the CFIUS review, we know that CSG is a top supplier of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and that the company also works closely with major U.S. defense contractors. Of important note, CSG passed a CFIUS review in 2022 to acquire ammunition plants in Arkansas and Missouri, which is a positive basis to begin a thorough review.
While speculation and allegations can often muddy the waters around any business deal, CFIUS was designed and strengthened by foreign investment act to research the facts and get to the bottom of proposed transactions, like the one between Vista and CSG.
I am confident CFIUS will conduct its investigation with the public trust that this exceptional panel deserves.
• Former Rep. Robert Pittenger served as chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare.
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