When Dubai Ports World (DPW) announced its intention in 2006 to purchase the U.S. sea terminal operations owned by Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., based in the UK, it catapulted the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), charged with examining the national security aspects of foreign takeovers of U.S. corporations, into the political limelight.

Indeed, CFIUS scrutiny posed little meaningful regulatory risk to business before the DPW debacle reared its head.

“With very few exceptions, the CFIUS system worked well before DPW, with little or no Congressional interest or oversight, and only an occasional critical GAO [General Accounting Office] report,” says Stephen Canner, staff chair of CFIUS from 1988 to 1992 and currently vice president, investment policy, at the New York-based U.S. Council for International Business.