Daniel J. Rosenthal is an Associate Managing Director in Kroll’s Investigations and Disputes practice, based in the Washington, D.C. office. He serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland’s Honors College, where he teaches an award-winning course on national security dilemmas. Mr. Rosenthal previously served in a variety of national security positions in the Obama Administration, including as Director for Counterterrorism with the National Security Council, as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice, and as a Senior Associate General Counsel for the Director of National Intelligence.
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Since its creation by President Gerald Ford, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has acted as a gatekeeper, working to ensure that foreign acquisitions do not impair U.S. national security.
According to a coalition of advocacy groups, a new proposal by DHS to seek information about the online presence of individuals trying to enter the United States from Visa Waiver countries—directly and voluntarily from those individuals—would “invade individual privacy and imperil freedom of expression.” The alarmist rhetoric used in responding to this proposals belies a far less dramatic reality.
In 1966, Congress enacted the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to create a legal regime under which the American public could gain access to information about its government’s activities. In keeping with Justice Brandeis’s observation that “sunlight is the best disinfectant,” FOIA has become an invaluable tool in forcing information of national interest into the open, and of revealing instances of government waste, fraud, and abuse.
Although we served as national security officials for Presidents from different parties, we stand united in our concern for the growing threat of a significant terrorist attack on our shores, due to the continued ambition of terrorist organizations worldwide to do us harm.