Check Point, an Israeli company best known for its firewall technology that defends networks against Internet attacks, announced in October that it had signed a deal to buy Sourcefire, which makes security appliances for protecting a corporation’s internal networks.
The deal had been under scrutiny since February by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, a panel made up of representatives from a dozen government agencies tasked with investigating foreign investments in U.S. companies that could affect national security.
Check Point had committed to an all out effort to lobby the committee for approval, but the process fell afoul of international politics following the public outcry over the failure of CFIUS to further investigate a proposed deal that would have given a Middle Eastern company control over six major U.S. ports. The proposed Check Point acquisition was under initial review by the U.S. Treasury-led CFIUS, when the Associated Press broke the news that United Arab Emirates-based Dubai World Ports planned to close a deal which would have given the company responsibility for security at six major U.S. ports.
Congress established CFIUS under the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988, when fears of growing Japanese ownership of U.S. companies caused legislators to pass the Exon-Florio Act.
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