Tighter new rules governing sensitive foreign investments will take effect in a month, US officials said Monday, broadening the president's ability to review and block transactions that could threaten national security.

The new rules enforce reforms Congress enacted in 2018 amid heightened concern about Chinese economic espionage, although officials said the measures do not target any one country.

The new rules broaden the authority of a federal interagency panel -- the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS -- which was created in the 1970s to prevent US adversaries from gaining access to sensitive technologies, critical infrastructure or military installations.

In a statement, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the new regulations modernized the process for reviewing such investments while still encouraging foreign investment in "American businesses and workers."

Among the changes, CFIUS will now have the power to review investments -- even if they do not involve the sale of a controlling stake in a target company -- when they involve crucial technologies and infrastructure or sensitive personal data.

According to media reports, CFIUS has recently reportedly opened a national security review of the Chinese-owned video app TikTok and required the Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech to sell the gay dating app Grindr.

After publishing draft regulations in September, US officials modified the final rules to clarify some definitions and rules, including the way rules apply to investment funds and the geographic areas near military installations covered by the rules.

Three allied countries, Australia, Canada and Britain, enjoy a special status as "excepted foreign states," meaning the rules' application to them is limited. The list of such countries may be expanded in the future, according to the US Treasury.

Saudi military trainees to return home after Pensacola shooting probe
Washington DC (UPI) Jan 13, 2020 - At least 20 Saudi students receiving military training in the United States will be sent back to their home country following a Pentagon and FBI investigation.

The White House is expected to make an announcement early this week about expelling the students, officials familiar with the matter said.

The removal of the trainees comes after a Pentagon review of the Dec. 6 incident at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., in which a Saudi officer opened fire on U.S. military personnel. Three people were killed and eight were injured.

Some will be expelled from the United States because they did not inform authorities of the gunman's extremist political views. Investigators believe he was among Saudi trainees who watched videos of other mass shootings at a party prior to the incident.

Other students have been linked to extremist online commentary and possession of child pornography. Early reports said that only 12 would leave the United States, a figure that did not include Saudi trainees at U.S. bases other than NAS Pensacola.

"In the wake of the Pensacola tragedy, the Department of Defense restricted to classroom training programs foreign military students from Saudi Arabia while we conducted a review and enhancement of our foreign student vetting procedures," said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Carver in a statement. "That training pause is still in place while we implement new screening and security measures."

The FBI began treating the shootings as a terrorist incident after discovering anti-American online comments posted by the shooter prior to the incident. About 850 Saudi military trainees are in the United States, and their training has been suspended indefinitely as federal investigators conduct a security review of each.

The shooter, a member of the Royal Saudi Air Force, was shot to death by a sheriff's deputy. Investigators said he legally purchased his 9mm handgun, and believes he acting alone and was not part of a larger network. His online posts, referring to the United States as "a nation of evil," surfaced after the incident.

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US sends home 21 Saudis as probe finds shooting was 'terrorism'
Washington (AFP) Jan 13, 2020
The United States will send home 21 Saudi military trainees after an investigation into the "jihadist" killing of three American sailors last month, the Justice Department announced Monday. Attorney General Bill Barr said the December 6 shootings by Royal Saudi Air Force 2nd Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani at the US Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida was an "act of terrorism." "The evidence shows that the shooter was motivated by jihadist ideology," he told reporters. There was no ... read more