On May 21, Christopher Griesedieck and Dismas Locaria published, “Foreign-owned defense firms take note — New rule would extend FOCI requirements to unclassified (and even some commercial) contracts and subcontracts” in Westlaw Today. The following is an excerpt:
On May 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) issued a long-awaited proposed rule (https://bit.ly/4nGzlYr) that would extend foreign ownership, control, or influence (FOCI) requirements to defense contracts and subcontracts involving no classified work. This would represent a significant change because historically, FOCI disclosure and mitigation requirements have applied to classified contracts.
The proposed rule would even permit DoD to apply these requirements to commercial-type contracts if the "designated senior DoD official" (who has not yet been designated) determines the contract involves a potential risk to national security or potential compromise because of sensitive data, systems, or processes.
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