Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) has co-sponsored the Protecting U.S. Farmland and Sensitive Sites from Foreign Adversaries Act, saying she sees the need to increase security around sensitive U.S. sites such as military bases, including those in her state.
"Alaska is on the front lines of our nation’s defense, and we’ve recently seen infiltration attempts of our military bases from foreign agents," she told Federal Newswire. "It’s critical that we protect our military sites from hostile surveillance or sabotage, which is why I’m proud to co-sponsor this bipartisan bill to give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) jurisdiction over land purchases for foreign entities near sensitive sites, including our military bases."
The bill would require a mandatory filing with CFIUS if an entity associated with an adversarial nation were to attempt to purchase land near sensitive locations such as military facilities, according to a release by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who chairs the committee, and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced the bill on July 12.
"The United States cannot allow foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its proxies to acquire real estate near sensitive sites like military bases or telecom infrastructure, potentially exploiting our critical technology and endangering our servicemembers," Gallagher said in the release. The bill would expand the number of sensitive sites under CFIUS' authority and would enable CFIUS to take food security into account during national security reviews, the release added.
USA Today reported that U.S. officials have suspected Chinese spies posing as tourists have tried to gain access to sensitive military facilities in Alaska for several years, and military sources suggest the alleged spies are looking for information about the capabilities of the U.S. military.
A report authored by Adam Savit, director of the America First Policy Institute's China Policy Initiative, found that between 2010 and 2020, U.S. farmland owned by entities associated with the CCP increased from 13,720 to 352,140 acres, a land value of $1.9 billion, according to the Department of Agriculture.
"Securing and dominating world food supply chains is an integral part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative," Savit said in the report. Citing a Congressional Research Service report, Savit said that more than a dozen states had laws in place to ban or restrict the purchase of land by CCP-associated entities as of 2021, but "many of these laws were never used, poorly implemented, circumvented by the use of U.S.-based subsidiaries, or undermined by repeals and amendments due to pressure from business groups."
A similar bill was introduced in March by Sens. Mike Braun (R-IN), Jon Tester (D-MT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), according to a release on Braun's website.
“Chinese ownership of American farmland increased more than 20-fold in the past decade," Braun said in the release. "We cannot allow our top foreign adversaries to buy up American farmland and compromise our agricultural supply chains."
