US Reviewing Second Dubai Firm

The Bush administration has reversed direction by notifying the US Congress about sales with national security implications. That comes after public outrage greeted a proposal that would transfer operations of six US ports to a Dubai company. Now the government says it will investigate two deals in particular: Dubai International Capital's $1.2 billion acquisition of London-based Doncasters Group Ltd., which manufactures precision engine parts in nine US locations as well as plans by Check Point Software Technologies, from Israel, to buy Sourcefire, a Maryland software security firm. Cybersecurity officials with the departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security all raised concerns about the Israeli purchase well before the port controversy, and both transactions involve defense applications. The secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has rarely notified Congress about such sales. Of 1,500 acquisitions referred to the committee in the past, all but one went through, although deals with national security concerns typically fall apart before the committee’s review. However, now with the new focus on security, foreign investment in the US has become much more complicated. – YaleGlobal