The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has initiated an investigation into recent allegations regarding Chinese foreign nationals accessing secure U.S. military bases and facilities.
The probe is spearheaded by Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs.
The two chairmen have penned a letter to the leadership of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
They express their concerns stating, “According to a recent report, Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, have repeatedly accessed, or attempted to access, U.S. military bases and other sensitive government facilities as often as one hundred times in recent years.”
They emphasized that these “efforts to access U.S. military bases and facilities raise concerns about what these Chinese nationals are seeking to access and for what purpose.”
The crux of the inquiry seeks to determine the intentions behind such breaches, and the letter elucidates the request, “To understand the extent to which Chinese nationals access U.S. military bases and facilities and what is being done to address this ongoing threat, we request a staff briefing.”
The stipulated deadline for this staff briefing is no later than October 16, 2023.
The undertones of the probe are also influenced by the PRC’s National Intelligence Law.
The law mandates that Chinese nationals “support, assist, and cooperate with Chinese intelligence officials, even while abroad.”
This has evidently sparked worries about the potential role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in these breaches.
The lawmakers pointedly remarked on this, raising “concerns about whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) compels its citizens to gather intelligence while in the United States.”
There have been prior incidents related to Chinese entities and U.S. military bases, the press release notes.
In 2021, a Chinese firm bought land near the Grand Forks Air Force Base.
This move led the DOD to implement regulations necessitating U.S. government approval for “foreign nationals to purchase property within 100 miles of certain military installations.”
The chairmen further asserted the gravity of the situation, stating, “These reports of Chinese espionage activities on U.S. soil underscore the Committee’s deepening concerns. It is imperative that our government is fully apprised of the breadth and depth of these activities, which pose significant threats to our national security, and our military personnel.”
Read the full letter to the Defense Department below:
