Joint Acquisition Protection Exploitation Cell (JAPEC)
Abstract
The DoD established a joint analysis capability, the Joint Acquisition Program and Exploitation Cell (JAPEC), to produce analytics products in support of the technology protection mission, such as formal reviews of CFIUS cases; engage with acquisition, intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement sources to determine consequences of, and appropriate preventative/mitigation actions against unwanted technology transfer; and assess controlled unclassified technical information losses. The JAPEC detects and characterizes past technology losses, conducts damage assessments of lost information, and provides insights with predictive value to support and promote activities. Together with supporting organizations, such as the other member agencies of CFIUS pursuant to 50 U.S.C. 4565, and the export control agencies, the JAPEC enables comprehensive, detailed assessments of U.S. military technological vulnerability, as well as inform the development and application of effective policies, countermeasures, and enforcement actions to preserve U.S. technical superiority in all warfighting domains. JAPEC engages with select Allies and partners in order to develop protection efforts across the extended supply chains resulting from the partnerships created by the global S&T community. JAPEC and supporting organizations synchronize, integrate, coordinate and inform the DoD efforts to protect critical technologies from malign investment by strategic competitors and to combat malign activities. JAPEC conducts trend analysis of protection efforts for the Department’s critical acquisition programs and technologies, incorporates findings into protection processes and activities, and analyzes losses, to determine consequences and appropriate courses of action, such as deterrence of our strategic competitors as well as promotion of the NSIB. JAPEC also manages OUSD(R&E)’s responsibilities for CFIUS, including the assessments, reviews, and investigations of transactions on the CFIUS docket, as well as the identification of “non-notified” transactions that are not yet before CFIUS but which may raise national security concerns meriting formal review. This line of effort involves the initial screening of all CFIUS transactions (to determine OUSD(R&E) equities), coordination with subject matter experts who provide vulnerability and consequence information to support the assessment of risks to national security presented by each transaction affecting OUSD(R&E) mission space, and full market analytics to carry out the President’s September 2022 Executive Order for CFIUS to consider risks presented by aggregate industry investment trends. This effort also supports the Department of the Treasury, which chairs CFIUS, in its outreach to Allies and partners who are standing up similar investment screening capabilities, providing advice and technical assistance in those foreign-to-foreign investments which may indirectly affect U.S. national security. JAPEC is also the focal point for related efforts, such as OUSD(R&E)’s screening of domestic mergers and acquisitions, which might impair the health of the Defense Industrial Base, and patent security reviews pursuant to the Invention Secrecy Act, to assess whether secrecy orders are warranted for patents pertaining to critical technology such as quantum computing. JAPEC also leads OUSD(R&E)’s export control activities where JAPEC provides technical advice and recommendations to the Defense Technology Security Administration regarding applications for licenses to export.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2025
- Source ID
- 139_0605797D8Z_6_0400_PB_2025
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