On March 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD) clarified how voluntary self-disclosures of potential criminal violations of U.S. national security laws should be made under the DOJ's recently adopted department-wide Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) (discussed in a recent Alston & Bird advisory). The announcement serves as a clear reminder of the NSD’s primacy over DOJ national security prosecutions and the fact that companies must approach voluntary self-disclosure decisions in the national security space with that framework in mind.
The Before Times: NSD’s Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations
Before the new department-wide CEP, the NSD operated under its component-specific Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations, which provided incentives—most notably the potential that DOJ would decline to prosecute—for companies that voluntarily self-disclosed misconduct, fully cooperated with the NSD’s investigations, and timely and appropriately remediated. That policy, which was announced on March 7, 2024, provided a framework for corporate enforcement actions brought by the NSD ranging from declinations to criminal charges.
The Current Landscape: DOJ-Wide CEP
The DOJ’s March 10, 2026 adoption of a department-wide CEP brought an end to all DOJ component-specific corporate voluntary self-disclosure programs, with the exception of the Antitrust Division’s leniency program.
Although the NSD’s Enforcement Policy for Business Organizations largely tracked what originally was the DOJ Criminal Division’s CEP, the homogenization of corporate criminal enforcement across the DOJ (again, except for the Antitrust Division) eliminates any component-specific differences between those programs, ensuring that the NSD’s approach to corporate self-disclosures will even more closely follow that of other DOJ components, most notably the Criminal Division, which has long been a key leader in developing the DOJ’s approach to corporate criminal enforcement.
The NSD Wants to be Your First Call
Above all, the NSD announcement leaves no doubt that the division intends to retain primacy in DOJ corporate enforcement efforts involving national security matters. Pointing to the DOJ-wide CEP’s requirement that “disclosure must be made to the appropriate component of the Department,” the NSD “encourage[s]” companies to voluntarily disclose such matters to it. However, such “encouragement” is as far as the NSD can go toward establishing itself as the exclusive DOJ channel for national security-related disclosures, given the DOJ-wide CEP’s allowance for companies who make “good faith disclosure[s] to one component where the matter is later brought to another appropriate component for investigation” to qualify for voluntary self-disclosure credit under the policy.
Looking Ahead
In its FY 2027 congressional budget submission, the NSD notes the “unique challenges” and “resource-intensive” nature of national security cases involving corporate defendants, and reports that its Counterintelligence and Export Control Section “is facing unprecedented personnel constraints.”
It remains to be seen whether the NSD’s appetite for corporate self-disclosures will outpace the resources it has to investigate them. Companies will continue to face a multifaceted national security enforcement landscape that includes not only the NSD, but also the Departments of Commerce, State, and Treasury, at least one other DOJ component. Given the Criminal Division's May 2025 statement (analyzed in a prior Alston & Bird advisory), trade and customs fraud, including tariff evasion, will be a key area of focus for its prosecutors.
The NSD's announcement serves as an important reminder that companies are likely to face NSD reluctance to grant voluntary self-disclosure credit if they disclose to DOJ components other than the NSD, and that the NSD should always be front of mind when formulating any self-disclosure strategy, so as to be best positioned to qualify for maximum CEP benefits.
The coupling of a key area of DOJ enforcement interest with such clearly declared expectations by the NSD regarding corporate engagement portends an uptick in NSD corporate enforcement activity, and the NSD’s announcement underscores the critical importance of risk-tailored compliance investments, early escalation, thoughtful triage, and targeted and efficient investigation of matters implicating the statutes over which the NSD has DOJ enforcement primacy.
If you have any questions, or would like additional information, please contact one of the attorneys on our White Collar, Government & Internal Investigations team or one of the attorneys on our International Trade & Regulatory team.
You can subscribe to future advisories and other Alston & Bird publications by completing our publications subscription form.