CFIUS Seeks Input for Known Investor Program and Feedback on Broader Process

On February 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) published a Request for Information (RFI), seeking public input on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’s (CFIUS) proposed Known Investor Program (KIP) and broader ways to streamline or simplify its review process. Treasury indicates that its goal is to facilitate investment from U.S. allies and partners in furtherance of President Trump’s America First Investment Policy. The press release is available here. The comment period will close on March 18, 2026.

Key Takeaways

• Treasury is seeking public input on the proposed KIP, an initiative intended to improve the efficiency of the CFIUS review process for certain trusted foreign investors, as well as on broader enhancements to help streamline and simplify the CFIUS review process. The RFI sets forth a list of eligibility criteria and a questionnaire that Treasury is considering using to assess eligibility for the KIP.
• Based on the proposed eligibility criteria, CFIUS appears to be targeting the KIP primarily at repeat filers with a history of compliance who do not have significant ties to China, such as investors that have submitted multiple transactions to CFIUS in recent years and expect additional filings going forward. However, the eligibility criteria outlined in the RFI are not final and may be revised before the program is formally established.
• A key component of KIP eligibility will be a foreign investor’s ability to demonstrate verifiable distance and independence from foreign adversaries and other threat actors, as Treasury states that this is a “core component of CFIUS’s risk analysis.”
• Importantly, Treasury emphasizes that participation in KIP alone does not guarantee clearance or a particular outcome of a review. It is intended to improve process efficiency.
• Treasury anticipates requiring each KIP participant to complete a comprehensive questionnaire seeking information regarding the foreign investor’s ownership, governance structure, relationship to a foreign government and other detailed information that is more extensive than what is required on a filing.
• Participation in the KIP would be optional, and foreign investors would be able to pursue CFIUS filings outside the program.
• More generally, this request for information represents a valuable opportunity for interested stakeholders to provide direct input on ways CFIUS can enhance its processes. Treasury has explicitly indicated that feedback may inform regulatory and statutory reform proposals, making this an important window to influence change.

Known Investor Program

In the America First Investment Policy memorandum issued in February 2025, President Trump directed the Secretary of the Treasury to create a “fast-track” process to facilitate investments from allies and partner countries, when they can demonstrate “verifiable distance and independence from the predatory investment and technology-acquisition practices of the [People’s Republic of China] and other foreign adversaries or threat actors.” Pursuant to this directive, Treasury announced in May 2025 that it was launching a pilot “Known Investor” portal to collect information from select foreign investors prior to a formal filing submission to make the review process more efficient.

In a step toward formalizing the program, Treasury now seeks feedback and input from a broader range of stakeholders on both the eligibility criteria as well as the types of information that CFIUS should request in the KIP questionnaire from a foreign investor and entities under common ownership or control that such foreign investor seeks to participate in the KIP (collectively, the Known Investor Entities).

1. Eligibility Criteria

Treasury is proposing that a foreign investor’s ability to apply for KIP status will be contingent on a set of self-determining eligibility criteria. Specifically, Treasury proposes that a foreign investor must, at a minimum:

• Have submitted three distinct covered transactions to CFIUS within the past three years and received notification that CFIUS concluded all action (or was unable to conclude action on the basis of a declaration) with respect to at least one of the three transactions.
• Anticipate the submission of at least one covered transaction to CFIUS within the next year.
• Have not received a written notice of a material violation of a mitigation agreement or a material misstatement/omission or a false certification within the past five years.
• Demonstrate limited ownership, governance or operational ties to “Adversary Countries” (which include China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia) or designated entities on certain restricted party lists administered by the U.S. government (i.e., the Entity List, Military End User List, Specialty Designated Nationals (SDN) List, Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, the Sectoral Sanctions List and the 1260H List).

As noted above, however, the eligibility criteria outlined in the RFI are not finalized, and we expect the final list of eligibility criteria to be published when the program is officially launched. Treasury seeks input on the scope of the proposed eligibility criteria, to include whether any of the factors requires further clarification or would be too difficult to apply.

2. Questionnaire

Once a foreign investor establishes it meets all of the threshold eligibility criteria, its participation in the KIP will ultimately turn on Treasury’s assessment of the foreign investor’s responses to a lengthy questionnaire, which, as currently proposed, require foreign investors to disclose detailed information across the categories of (1) legal and organizational structure; (2) personnel and operational governance; (3) nature and characteristics of the foreign investor’s business; (4) engagement with the U.S. government and compliance posture; and (5) verifiable distance from Adversary Countries.

Significantly, this proposed questionnaire seeks information that is more extensive and more detailed than would be provided to CFIUS in a declaration or notice filing. For example:

Legal and Organizational Factors

• While the foreign investor would be required to submit complete ownership, including individuals and entities holding a greater-than-5% economic or voting interest in a filing to CFIUS, the questionnaire would also require the foreign investor to specify whether any changes are known or anticipated to occur within the next year.
• The foreign investor would be required to provide information on any individuals or entities serving on the limited partner advisory committee (or equivalent body) of any fund through which the foreign investor has made investments in the United States (without regard to the foreign investor’s share of the fund or its own participation (or not) on that advisory board).

Personnel and Process for Governing and Operating

• The questionnaire would require a description of how each foreign investor identifies the investment partners with which it chooses to invest in specific transactions, and when the foreign investor chooses to decline to pursue a relationship with an investment partner.

Nature and Characteristics of the Known Investor Entities’ Business

• The questionnaire would require a description of, and copies of, any materials regarding the foreign investor’s global investment strategy and with respect to the United States, as well as anticipated capital allocation over the next year.
• The foreign investor would need to gather and disclose information such as research and development (R&D), intellectual property (IP), systems and infrastructure, and the governance and decision-making arrangement in which the foreign investor holds a direct or indirect interest of at least five percent.

Engagement with the U.S. Government and Compliance Posture

• The questionnaire would require information on any remedial action undertaken by any Known Investor Entity as part of a settlement, criminal or civil enforcement action within a non-U.S. jurisdiction since 2020.

Verifiable Distance from Adversary Countries

• The questionnaire would require information on the Known Investor Entity’s portfolio in an Adversary Country and the sector-specific strategy for current portfolio companies or assets in any Adversary Country, as well as planned investments in the next two years and the expected growth pipeline over the next five years.

Treasury proposes specific questions for each category and is seeking feedback on the scope of the information requested and what challenges may arise in the process of collecting and providing this information.

Broader CFIUS Process Improvements

Beyond the KIP, the RFI also seeks public input on other ways to improve efficiency throughout the full CFIUS process, including in the case review process, non-notified transactions, mitigation and monitoring and enforcement. Notably, Treasury also welcomes suggestions that may require regulatory or statutory change. The RFI notes that CFIUS is considering sharing more information with the public to provide more transparency regarding its analysis and activities. This is an opportunity for stakeholders that regularly interact with CFIUS to highlight what works, what does not and what would make the process more manageable going forward.

Conclusion

At the direction of the America First Investment Policy, CFIUS is proposing to implement the KIP to increase efficiencies in the CFIUS review process in order to incentivize greater investment from friendly foreign investors. While the program has the potential to improve aspects of the process for trusted, frequent filers, the RFI does not offer any clues to how participation in the KIP will translate to faster or more-efficient reviews for foreign investors. Thus, the significance and practical impact ultimately remain to be seen. CFIUS rarely seeks public input on its processes; therefore, foreign investors and other impacted stakeholders should consider submitting comments to shape the development of the KIP and the broader CFIUS process.