From Compliance Department to Counterintelligence Function

In a press release issued on March 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD) declared that “business organizations and their employees are at the forefront of protecting the national security of the United States.” That’s not a compliment — it’s an assignment.

Now bundled inside the DOJ’s new Department-wide Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy¹ is a fundamental reordering of who bears responsibility for detecting and reporting national security violations. NSD stressed that companies play a role in its enforcement of export control and sanctions laws, as companies are in a position to prevent both the unlawful export of technologies, commodities, and services and unlawful transactions with sanctioned countries and persons.

The U.S. government is not simply asking companies to follow the rules. It is asking them to actively police their own employees, supply chains, and transactions — and to self-report what they find. In effect, Washington is privatizing a function it cannot perform at scale: real-time counterintelligence inside American business.

The incentive structure makes the expectation plain. Come forward voluntarily, cooperate fully, and remediate — and you may avoid prosecution entirely. Stay silent, and face the full weight of federal enforcement. That is less a compliance framework than a conscription notice.

Consistent with this priority, NSD reinforced that numerous statutes fall within its purview, including the Arms Export Control Act, the Export Control Reform Act, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Given this clear statement, companies with knowledge of a potential violation of export control and sanctions laws should consider whether they might benefit from DOJ’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure policy by making a self-disclosure, cooperating, and remediating the misconduct.

For questions on this or any other subject, please contact the authors or any of their colleagues in Arnold & Porter’s White Collar Defense & Investigations practice group. 

© Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 2026 All Rights Reserved. This Blog post is intended to be a general summary of the law and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.