Mario Mancuso, P.C., a partner in Kirkland’s Washington, D.C., and New York offices, leads the Firm’s International Trade and National Security practice. A former member of the President’s national security team, Mario represents corporations, boards, financial sponsors, financial institutions, and principal investors on a wide variety of corporate, investigative and enforcement-related matters worldwide.

Mario focuses on representing clients in international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, principal investments and internal investigations, particularly in relation to matters that may implicate the U.S. government’s national security or foreign policy regulation of international business activities, such as economic sanctions (OFAC), export controls (ITAR, EAR), anti-money laundering (AML), the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

With his extensive senior government, enforcement and international experience, he is particularly well-positioned to help clients through crises that involve national security-related regulatory enforcement actions or government investigations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and/or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

During his tenure as Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, Mario was the lead U.S. official with immediate policy responsibility for matters involving U.S. industry and national security. In particular, he served as a senior CFIUS decision-maker, helped draft and implement regulations for the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 (FINSA) and reviewed hundreds of CFIUS transactions as a regulator. Mario’s government experience includes:

U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce, Industry and Security (confirmed by the U.S. Senate)
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Special Operations and Combating Terrorism
Special Counsel, Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense
Board Member, Global Markets Board, U.S. National Intelligence Council
Board Member, CFIUS Advisory Board, U.S. National Intelligence Council
U.S. Chair, U.S.-China High Technology and Strategic Trade Working Group
U.S. Chair, U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group
U.S. Chair, U.S.-Israel High Technology Forum


Mario has authored many articles and regularly contributes to leading U.S. and international media outlets on the subjects of U.S. national security, international affairs and global business. Prior to his presidential service, he was in private law practice and served as a forward deployed military officer during combat operations.