(ConservativeJournal.org) – The US Treasury Department plans to increase its monitoring of foreign investments near military bases. They are concerned about possible security issues in and near the country.
On Monday, July 8, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that the new rule will increase the authority of a special government committee responsible for reviewing foreign purchases of US companies and real estate. This committee, known as the Committee on Foreign Investments in the US (CFIUS), can block, restrict, or investigate foreign real estate acquisitions near sensitive military sites due to concerns about surveillance and espionage.
The proposed changes would include dozens of military bases in multiple states, as stated by a senior Treasury Department official who spoke anonymously about the internal discussions. With this extension, there would be 227 bases total that are being reviewed for investment security.
According to the Treasury official, the real estate transaction reviews from CFIUS do not target specific countries but consider the potential threats, vulnerabilities, and national security implications involved.
The choice was made in response to a recent order from President Joe Biden to a Chinese corporation to sell land close to a Wyoming Air Force facility. This facility has ICBMS, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, that can hold nuclear warheads.
From 2020 to 2022, China was the primary subject of the reviews from CFIUS. An evaluation from 2023 by the National Intelligence directory highlighted that the threat from adversarial countries is extremely high, especially from countries such as China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea.
The new rule, according to Paul Rosen, Treasury’s assistant secretary for investment security, is a major step toward protecting important US military installations. He emphasized that CFIUS, and other US organizations within the pentagon will continue to adapt to evolving risks to ensure the protection of military installations and any type of related defense asset.
Copyright 2024, ConservativeJournal.org
