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Key National Security Issues Under the New Trump Administration

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Download the presentation slide deck. Please join our panel of global national security experts on December 19 for a post-U.S....

Download the presentation <a href="https://media2.mofo.com/v3/assets/blt5775cc69c999c255/bltc5ddbec9b240f84c/67646f09ccead11e443f3054/241219-new-administration-webinar-series.pdf" target="_blank">slide deck</a>. Please join our panel of global national security experts on December 19 for a post-U.S. presidential election webinar focused on how a second Trump administration will impact the national security regulatory and political landscape. Experts from our U.S. and Asia National Security Teams will break down how the new political dynamics could reshape the national security landscape, including the Trump administration’s expected priorities with respect to sanctions, export controls, foreign investment, and data security, as well as the enforcement and compliance impacts for global business. We will also explore how China may react to the new administration’s national security objectives.<h5>Morrison Foerster Panel:</h5><ul><li>John E. Smith, National Security Co-chair and Former OFAC Director</li><li>Brandon Van Grack, National Security Co-chair and Former DOJ National Security Official</li><li>Rachel Fiorill, Partner and Former OFAC Enforcement Section Chief</li><li>Chen Zhu, Partner and Head of Asia Sanctions and Export Controls Practice</li></ul><hr>

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<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe class="sticky-video" allowfullscreen="1" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JqKSMBInKJ0?rel=0" title="Meet John Smith" title="iframe"></iframe></div>John E. Smith, former Director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), is co-head of Morrison Foerster’s National Security practice, and a member of the Crisis Management group and Investigations + White Collar group. After serving 11 years as a top official at OFAC and three years as its Director, Mr. Smith brings to the firm unmatched experience in <a href="/capabilities/national-security.html#SanctionsEmbargoes">economic sanctions</a>, enforcement, and national security.Both in the United States and globally, clients turn to Mr. Smith for his deep experience and unique perspective on the complexities and escalating risk of U.S. and multilateral sanctions. He is a trusted advisor for clients navigating significant civil and criminal enforcement actions by U.S. and other government prosecutors and regulators.While serving as a top official at OFAC, Mr. Smith was centrally involved in all aspects of developing, implementing, and enforcing U.S. government sanctions requirements. As OFAC Director, he oversaw every OFAC enforcement case against financial institutions and global operating companies.  Mr. Smith played a pivotal role as OFAC moved to the center of our nation’s response to the world’s most complex and challenging national security and foreign policy crises, working closely with other governments and multilateral agencies and the private sector.Mr. Smith has leading expertise on U.S. sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML), and export controls cases and policies. While serving at OFAC, he worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to pursue major sanctions and export controls enforcement matters, including significant civil and criminal penalties against major global actors and noteworthy cases against malicious cyber actors. He has overseen the U.S. government’s economic sanctions efforts, imposing sanctions on heads of state, countries, and illicit actors, conducting enforcement actions against dozens of major financial institutions and companies around the world, and developing innovative sanctions enforcement policies to address evolving U.S. national security priorities.Under his leadership as a top official at OFAC, Mr Smith:<ul><li>Supervised the investigation, preparation, strategy, and settlement of dozens of major enforcement cases for hundreds of millions of dollars involving apparent sanctions and export control violations by global financial institutions and corporations; </li><li>Led the development and imposition of some of the most significant sanctions ever involving Iran, Russia, North Korea, Syria, supporters of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction proliferators, malicious cyber actors, transnational criminal organizations, and narcotics traffickers; and</li><li>Acted for a period as the Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), overseeing economic sanctions, illicit finance, and AML efforts by OFAC and other TFI components, including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). </li></ul>Prior to Mr. Smith’s 11-year tenure at OFAC, he served as the only American on a Security Council panel of experts charged with monitoring the implementation of UN-mandated sanctions on Al-Qaida and the Taliban. In this role, he led assessment visits to more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Gulf, meeting with top-ranking government officials, central banks, customs and export control offices, and intelligence agencies, as well as many of their financial institutions.Mr. Smith also served as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the DOJ for five years. During his tenure, he defended U.S. agencies including OFAC in challenges to significant government programs and statutes, including the USA PATRIOT Act, the 2000 Census, and other matters involving highly sensitive and classified information. Mr. Smith acted as the lead trial counsel in defending the first legal challenges to the terrorist asset freezing program implemented by OFAC following September 11, 2001.Mr. Smith has received numerous noteworthy accolades throughout his career, including the Alexander Hamilton Award, the top award given by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2018); and the Special Commendation for Outstanding Service (Anti-Terrorism), awarded by the DOJ (2002).Before joining the DOJ, Mr. Smith was a litigation attorney at a major international law firm. He also served as a law clerk for The Honorable Anthony J. Scirica on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.Mr. Smith received his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law as a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems. He graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-Columbia, with dual degrees of a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Bachelor of Journalism.

John Smith

Partner

Brandon L. Van Grack co-chairs Morrison Foerster’s National Security and Crisis Management groups. His practice focuses on investigations, criminal defense, and compliance matters involving export controls and sanctions, foreign investment, and cyber incidents. Brandon’s arrival to the firm follows more than a decade of service at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he held multiple senior positions. In those positions, he helped manage the U.S. government’s tools to address perceived national security threats in China and Russia, oversaw every criminal investigation involving sanctions and export controls, and was Chief of DOJ’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Unit.Brandon’s leadership and breadth of national security experience offers clients in the financial services, technology, artificial intelligence, defense, media, and communications sectors unmatched insider enforcement perspective across the entire national security landscape, including sanctions, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), export control, cybersecurity matters, and FARA.<h4>Investigations & White Collar Defense </h4>At the DOJ, Brandon led and supervised some of the government’s most significant corporate investigations and resolutions across the national security spectrum. As Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and a Trial Attorney in the Counterintelligence & Export Control Section, he worked on the resolution of almost every significant corporate matter pertaining to export control and sanctions violations in the last decade and is one of the few attorneys to have managed the DOJ’s Voluntary Self‑Disclosure Program for export control and sanctions violations. As Chief of the FARA Unit, he directed scores of investigations of companies for acting as unregistered foreign agents. He also served as Senior Assistant Special Counsel for Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, handling some of the office’s most significant matters.Brandon also managed significant corporate investigations and resolutions across the national security spectrum. As Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and a Trial Attorney in the Counterintelligence & Export Control Section, he worked on the resolution of almost every significant corporate matter pertaining to export control and sanctions violations in the last decade and is one of the few attorneys to have managed the DOJ’s Voluntary Self‑Disclosure Program for export control and sanctions violations. As Chief of the FARA Unit, he directed scores of investigations of companies for acting as unregistered foreign agents.<h4>Sanctions, Export Control, & Foreign Investment</h4>As Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Brandon oversaw every criminal investigation involving export control and sanctions and led the DOJ’s response to the Obama Administration’s rollback of sanctions targeting Iran—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). As a Trial Attorney, he prosecuted more than 30 export control and sanctions cases, including first-ever cases involving North Korea, weapons of mass destruction, and the Atomic Energy Act. In the first Trump Administration, Brandon led DOJ’s review of transactions involving foreign influence before CFIUS and Team Telecom; he also managed the DOJ’s review of transactions before CFIUS during the Obama Administration.<h4>FARA & the Lobbying Disclosure Act</h4>As Chief of the FARA Unit in the first Trump Administration, and the first official to supervise all foreign influence matters across the DOJ, Brandon revitalized and transformed the enforcement of FARA. Following the DOJ’s announcement making FARA an enforcement priority, he supervised a team of 40 attorneys and staff that opened a record number of investigations, pursued a record number of enforcement actions, secured a record number of registrations, and obtained the first civil injunction involving FARA in nearly three decades. Brandon also directed the review of Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) filings for criminal violations and regulated the exemption under FARA for LDA registrants. He also wrote the book on FARA enforcement for the American Bar Association.<h4>Cybersecurity </h4>As a long-time prosecutor, including as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Brandon directed complex cyber investigations, including multiple matters involving state-sponsored cyber attacks. He prosecuted the first person convicted as a cyberterrorist and led the investigation of an international hacking group for identity theft, extortion, and dozens of spearphishing attacks against public and private entities. He also collaborated with other government agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security, to facilitate cooperation from corporate victims and disseminate threat information.During his time at the DOJ, Brandon handled the entire range of national security matters. He led and supervised investigations and prosecutions involving espionage, economic espionage, mishandling of classified information, and theft of trade secrets. He also directed investigations involving treason, mutiny, the Neutrality Act, and the Logan Act.Brandon has been widely recognized for his deep experience in handling national security matters, and keynotes and speaks at industry conferences involving export control and sanctions, CFIUS, FARA, and political law. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service (2018), the FBI Director’s Award for Outstanding Cyber Investigation (2017), the Director of National Counterintelligence’s Award for Excellence (2019), the Homeland Security Investigations Executive Associate Director’s Award for Outstanding Counterproliferation Investigation (2014), and five awards from the Assistant Attorney General for National Security.Brandon regularly provides insight on national security issues and DOJ matters with national media. He is a frequent contributor on cable news, including MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, Deadline: Whitehouse and All In with Chris Hayes, ABC's Good Morning America, NBC's Meet the Press, CNN, BBC News, Sky News and NHK World. He also regularly appears on NPR’s Morning Edition. He has been quoted on a variety of national security topics in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post, among others,Brandon is also a Contributing Editor to the Lawfare blog and co-host of <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/podcasts-multimedia/podcast/the-regulators-series" target="_blank">The Regulators</a> podcast, where he speaks with key U.S. government regulators in the national security space, including leaders at OFAC, CFIUS, the Bureau of Industry and Security, DOJ, FinCEN, the Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS), and FBI.

Brandon L. Van Grack

Rachel Fiorill is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s National Security Group. Having served as an Enforcement Section Chief at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and with over a decade of private sector experience, Rachel brings unparalleled experience in economic sanctions, Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML), U.S. government and internal investigations, export controls, and national security matters.Clients seek Rachel’s counsel on their most complex sanctions enforcement and compliance matters, including those in relation to meeting OFAC’s sanctions compliance program expectations. Rachel draws on her previous OFAC Enforcement Division leadership experience and her experiences collaborating with senior management and agency officials within the Treasury Department to provide her clients with practical, risk-based advice regarding sanctions enforcement and compliance.Rachel has extensive experience assisting clients in navigating the evolving financial crimes regulatory landscape in connection with investigations by OFAC, the Department of Justice, the New York Department of Financial Services, Congress, and other federal and international regulators. Her practice focuses economic sanctions, BSA/AML, anti-corruption, export control, and information and communications technology and services (ICTS) matters. She regularly advises global financial institutions, investment companies, and U.S. and non-U.S. companies operating in the technology, payments, and cryptocurrency industries on sanctions and cross-border risk management, compliance program reviews, government inquires and resolutions, internal investigations, corporate transactions, and due diligence assessments.During her time at OFAC, Rachel led the investigation and resolution of hundreds of enforcement actions, including several groundbreaking civil monetary penalties. As Enforcement Division Section Chief, Rachel oversaw all aspects of investigations of possible sanctions violations, including review and clearance of subpoenas, correspondence, case disposition memoranda, penalty notices, settlements, findings of violation, cautionary letters, and cease-and-desist orders. She also gained particular experience with Ukraine/Russia, Iran, and Syria sanctions, coordinated investigative activities with federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and provided technical sanctions guidance and support to law enforcement agencies and prosecutors.Rachel received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as the special projects editor for The Tax Lawyer. While at Georgetown, she participated in the Housing and Community Development clinic at the Harrison Institute for Public Law. Rachel concurrently earned her Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University. She graduated cum laude from Brandeis University with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and politics.

Rachel Fiorill

Chen is a partner whose practice focuses on government and internal investigations, cross-border enforcement matters and commercial litigation. He has extensive experience advising on U.S. economic sanctions, anti-money laundering, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), securities and accounting fraud, and related governance and corporate compliance issues. Chen also has extensive experience conducting compliance due diligence and designing compliance programs for clients in connection with private equity portfolio investments, M&A and IPO transactions. He also has experience in U.S.-based civil litigation involving Asia-based defendants. In addition, Chen frequently guides corporate and financial institutions clients through risk management issues associated with state secrecy, data privacy and cross-border data export control.His clients include major state-owned enterprises, multinational corporations and individuals from various industries including banking, pharmaceutical, technology, entertainment, insurance, consumer retail and hospitality, with a particular focus on China, Japan and Southeast Asia.Chen has been recognized as a Future Leader by Who’s Who Legal Investigations 2019 - 2022.Chen is a frequent presenter at legal conferences and client workshops relating to anti-corruption, economic sanctions and white-collar enforcement.Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, he worked in the Hong Kong and New York offices of a leading U.S. law firm. Chen is a native speaker of English and Mandarin. He is a Registered Foreign Lawyer with the Law Society of Hong Kong.

朱晨昊律师的执业重点为政府与内部调查、跨境执法事宜以及商业诉讼。他在针对美国经济制裁、反洗钱、美国《反海外腐败法》（FCPA）、证券和会计欺诈以及相关政府和公司合规问题提供法律意见方面拥有丰富的经验。朱律师在针对私募股权资产组合投资、并购和IPO交易为客户开展合规尽职调查以及设计合规计划方面拥有丰富的经验。他在处理涉及亚洲被告的美国民事诉讼事宜方面也具备经验。此外，朱律师亦经常协助公司和金融机构客户处理与国家机密、数据隐私和跨境数据出口管制有关的风险管理问题。朱律师的客户包括银行、医药、技术、娱乐、保险、消费品零售以及酒店业等多个行业的大型国有企业、跨国公司以及个人，其业务重点是中国、日本和东南亚地区。2019年 - 2020年《法律名人录》和2019年 - 2020年《全球调查评论》均将朱律师评为“公司调查领域的未来领袖律师”。朱律师是美富（国际）律师事务所的合伙人。在加入美富之前，朱律师在一家顶级美国律所的香港和纽约办事处任职。朱律师的母语是英文和中文。他是香港律师会的注册外国律师。

Key National Security Issues Under the New Trump Administration

19 Dec 2024 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM HKT

Morrison Foerster Panel: