November 14, 2024
Chinese Communist Party Land Ownership is a Threat to Nevada’s Critical Infrastructure
WHAT IS CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE?
Critical infrastructure is any asset that, if incapacitated, would have a debilitating effect on national security, economic security, or public health. Examples include gas and oil pipelines, electrical power grids, military installations, telecommunications facilities, and public transportation systems.
WHAT CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE EXISTS IN NEVADA?
Area 51 (Groom Lake) is a testing and training range in Nevada used for aircraft and weapons development and evaluation. Creech Air Force Base (Indiana Springs) is home to the six groups that make up the 432nd Wing, which specializes in unmanned aircraft operations. Nellis Air Force Base (Las Vegas) is a massive 14,000-acre installation in Nevada that hosts more squadrons and units than any other Air Force base worldwide. Naval Air Station Fallon (Fallon) is the home of TOPGUN, the Naval Strike Warfare Center, which is responsible for training select U.S. Navy fighter pilots and other naval aviation specialists.
WHY SHOULD NEVADIANS CARE ABOUT CCP LAND OWNERSHIP?
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) acquisition of land is accelerating across the U.S. Acquisition of strategic land near military bases enables surveillance and sabotage of our Armed Forces, and acquisition of land near critical infrastructure exposes vulnerable sites—power, natural gas, petroleum, and water treatment facilities—to physical assault. In 2023, a CCP spy balloon traversed the entire continental United States, including over our most sensitive military bases. According to U.S. Air Force Major Jeremy Fox, land near military bases may be used for espionage, including intercepting military communications between unmanned air systems and space-based assets. If left open to CCP control, our real property provides nearly limitless platforms for “permanent spy balloons.”
WHAT CAN NEVADA DO TO PROTECT ITS CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE?
Nevada should ban foreign adversaries from owning or otherwise controlling property within a close radius surrounding a military installation. It should also ensure that all companies with access to critical infrastructure conduct background checks on employees with significant access to that infrastructure. Finally, it should require the flagging of undeclared transactions, limiting the number of undeclared transactions that can lead to foreign ownership of land near strategic U.S. land/infrastructure.