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Brian S. Williams

Senior Advisor

Washington +1 202 662 5270

  • About
  • Credentials
  • About

    Brian Williams advises on the U.S. national security review process administered by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), as well as related reviews conducted by the informal interagency working group known as Team Telecom.

    Brian, a non-lawyer, draws on over 20 years of public and private sector experience advising on issues at the intersection of national security, technology, and law. He is the principal architect of the risk framework that has become the de facto standard for all risk assessments conducted by CFIUS and Team Telecom, and has counseled the most senior officials of the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security on how to assess and address potential national security risks posed by foreign investment.

    Brian led multi-agency analyst teams which authored the majority of CFIUS risk assessments between 2005 and 2017, while providing the U.S. Government due diligence, assessment, and, where necessary, mitigation strategy development support on over 1,600 CFIUS transactions and 1,000 Federal Communications Commission license applications before Team Telecom.

    Areas of Expertise

  • Practices and Industries
  • Credentials
    Education
    • University of Michigan Law School, J.D., 2004
        • cum laude
    • University of Michigan, M.S., 2004
        • Graduate Student Instructor
    • Cornell University, B.A., 1994
    Government Experience
    • U.S. Department of Defense - Defense Intelligence Agency
    Previous Experience
    • CENTRA Technology, Inc., Director of Transactional Risk (2005-2017)
    • Department of Defense, Office of General Counsel, Intelligence, Honors Legal Intern (2003)
    • applEcon, LLC, Staff Analyst (2001-2003)
    • United States Air Force, Intelligence Officer, Active Duty (1995-2000)

    Areas of Expertise

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