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Jacob Harrison helps his clients navigate both domestic and international legal challenges.

Jake advises U.S. government contractors on internal investigations and state and federal regulatory compliance. His compliance practice focuses on counseling clients operating at the intersection of government contracts and cybersecurity, including for cybersecurity compliance reviews, risk assessments, and data breaches.

In his international practice, Jake represents foreign and domestic clients in Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and Anti-Terrorism Act litigation. He also has experience advising clients involved in cross-border commercial arbitration proceedings.

During law school, Jake served as an associate editor of the Emory Law Journal and interned at the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Georgia House Democratic Caucus. Before attending law school, Jake worked in politics and state government.

On January 29, 2024, the Department of Commerce released a proposed rule:  Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities, which solicits comments regarding a proposed  new set of regulations that would introduce significant new requirements for U.S.-based Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers.  The proposed rule implements requirements from the January 2021 Executive Order Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities and part of the October 2023 Executive Order Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.  If Commerce implements the regulations as proposed, IaaS providers would be required to create a Customer Identification Program (CIP), ensure any foreign resellers maintain a CIP, track all customer identities, verify the identities of foreign customers, and report certain transactions implicating large AI models that could be used for malicious cyber-enabled activities.  The Department is soliciting comments on all aspects of the proposed rule by April 29, 2024.Continue Reading Who I(aa)S Your Foreign Customer? Department of Commerce Proposes Foreign Customer Identification Requirements For U.S. IaaS Providers

The Department of Defense (DoD) recently published a memorandum clarifying what it means for a cloud service provider (CSP) to be Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Moderate baseline “equivalent” and meet incident reporting requirements under Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Clause 252.204-7012, Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting (DFARS 7012). The memorandum states, in order to be considered FedRAMP equivalent going forward, CSPs must (1) be FedRAMP Moderate/High-Authorized, or (2) secure a third-party assessment confirming their compliance with all FedRAMP Moderate baseline security controls.Continue Reading No Longer Cloudy: DoD Issues New Guidance on FedRAMP Moderate Equivalency Cloud Security Requirements

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, signed into law on December 22, 2023, makes numerous changes to acquisition policy. Crowell & Moring’s Government Contracts Group discusses the most consequential changes for government contractors here. These include changes that impose a new conflict of interest regime for government contractors with a connection to China, impose new restrictions and requirements, require government reporting to Congress on acquisition authorities and programs, and alter other processes and procedures to which government contractors are subject. The FY 2024 NDAA also includes the Federal Data Center Enhancement Act, the American Security Drone Act, and the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2024.Continue Reading The FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act: Key Provisions Government Contractors Should Know

On December 26, 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD) released the highly anticipated proposed rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program (CMMC), a cybersecurity regulatory program that will likely impact most of the government contractor community. Every contractor who handles sensitive data such as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) or Federal Contract Information (FCI) during DoD contract performance will be covered by this regulation. While the CMMC program builds upon the security requirements included in Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) clause 252.204-7012, CMMC will bring greater scrutiny to contractors’ cybersecurity compliance and potentially greater consequences for failure to comply in the era of the Department of Justice’s Civil Cyber Fraud Initiative and False Claims Act litigation. If finalized as proposed, the rule will significantly impact the CMMC regime, notably by requiring senior company officials to complete an affirmation for every CMMC level self-assessed or certified, thus increasing legal compliance risks.Continue Reading DoD’s New Year Resolution: A Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program (CMMC) Proposed Rule

On November 9, 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) released the Final Public Draft (“FPD”) of Special Publication (“SP”) 800-171 Revision (“Rev.”) 3, “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations” and the Initial Public Draft of NIST SP 800-171A Rev 3, “Assessing Security Requirements for Controlled Unclassified Information.”  The FPD of SP 800-171 Rev. 3 condenses several control requirements from the initial public draft while adding new requirements under existing controls.  The initial draft of SP 800-171A now aligns with SP 800-171 Rev. 3 and includes more detailed assessment procedures than its predecessor.  Changes in both documents forecast the evolving compliance requirements for organizations required to safeguard Controlled Unclassified Information (“CUI”).Continue Reading The Holidays Come Early: NIST Unwraps Final Draft Revision 3 to NIST SP 800-171

On October 30, 2023, President Biden released an Executive Order (EO) on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  This landmark EO seeks to advance the safe and secure development and deployment of AI by implementing a society-wide effort across government, the private sector, academia, and civil society to harness “AI for good,” while mitigating its substantial risks.Continue Reading Biden’s Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence

On June 21, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule amending the Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation (HSAR) by updating an existing clause (HSAR 3052.204-71) and adding two new contract clauses (HSAR 3052.204-72 and 3052.204-73) to address safeguarding of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).  The final rule is effective July 21, 2023.

The new clauses aim to improve privacy and security measures around CUI by introducing: (1) general CUI handling requirements; (2) authority to operate (ATO) requirements for federal information systems; (3) incident reporting requirements and activities; and (4) sanitization of government related files and information. These new clauses move DHS away from the use of DHS-defined sensitive information and toward the government-wide CUI model. Continue Reading Homeland Cybersecurity: DHS Overhauls Its CUI Program, Releases New Contract Clauses

On June 9, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released M-23-16, Update to Memorandum M-22-18, which alters key deadlines and clarifies how agencies and software developers can comply with M-22-18.  The original memorandum, published in September 2022, required all federal agencies and their software developers to comply with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF), NIST SP 800-218, and the NIST Software Supply Chain Security Guidance (collectively, NIST Guidance) whenever third-party software is used on government information systems or otherwise affects government information. Continue Reading Softening the Blow: OMB Extends Software Supply Chain Security Deadline and Clarifies Scope

On June 2, 2023, the FAR Council issued an Interim Rule with immediate effect that prohibits the presence or use of the TikTok app on “information technology” (IT) equipment used by government contractors and contractor personnel in the performance of a contract. The interim rule mirrors the Office of Management and Budget’s guidance, which directed federal agencies to remove TikTok and successor apps made by Chinese company ByteDance Limited from federal devices (to implement the No TikTok on Government Devices Act). Continue Reading Save the Last (Byte) Dance: New Interim Rule Bars TikTok and Successor ByteDance Apps

On May 10, 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a draft of NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-171 Revision 3, containing new and revised cybersecurity controls that, when finalized, will be required for federal contractors handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

NIST proposed five key changes to NIST SP 800-171:

  1. New controls