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The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into claims that the Biden administration sold land near military bases to organizations linked to China “under the guise of conservation.”
In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, committee chair Rep. James Comer said the body is investigating the Biden-era Department of Defense’s (Department) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI). Concretely, the “sale of land easements adjacent to military bases to nonprofits with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.”
The letter goes on to note that the program is designed to as a “tool for combatting encroachment that can limit or restrict military training, testing, and operations,” and that a key component is the use of partnerships to share the cost.
However, it added, multiple reports have highlighted the DOD’s “shortcomings in adequately assessing the risks of foreign encroachment on federal lands,” and that the committee is “aware of reports indicating that some REPI partners may have affiliations or business
operations in the People’s Republic of China:”
The letter details that there are 34 REPI projects with organizations tied to China. Some of them, it said, are “particularly worrying given the proximity of projects to military installations.” “CCP access to buffer projects could pose great risk to U.S. military installations and attempts to breach U.S. installations are not without precedent,” says the letter, which pledges to work with the current Department of Defense to shed light on the matter.
“We will work with Secretary Pete Hegseth to assess the national security threat,” the committee said in a publication on X.
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