US to review foreign purchase of land near military installations

The United States plans to review this month the extent to which the Pentagon is prepared to mitigate possible foreign interference when investors from other countries buy land or properties near national military installations.

The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense sent a letter on Monday, carried by American media, asking various representatives of the Navy, Army, Air Force or Division of the information, among other things, to provide them with the relevant contact information to facilitate this analysis.

The main purpose of this review, according to the letter, is to analyze the extent to which the Department of Defense has developed “plans and procedures to mitigate foreign interference when foreign investors acquire land or property near US military installations.

The letter clarifies that this objective may change as the review progresses and is open to suggestions.

“The evaluation will take place at US military installations. We may identify additional locations during the same,” said the letter, which asks recipients to offer relevant contacts within five days.

The news comes amid tension with China after a spy balloon was located over US airspace in late January and shot down over Atlantic waters on February 4.

This first balloon had been flying over various regions of the country for days, such as the state of Montana (northeast), where one of the three existing nuclear missile silo fields in the United States is located.

In the past three days, three other flying objects have been shot down on its territory and in Canada, of which for the moment the American authorities have not been able to confirm their origin.

That same Monday, the spokesman for the National Security Council of the White House, John Kirbytold a press conference that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, has decided to create a team that assesses the security risks posed by unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

The Chinese regime assured from the start that the first object shot down was a weather balloon that deviated from its trajectory and denounced that at least ten American balloons flew over China last year, which Washington categorically denies.

Despite growing tensions, the Biden administration said Monday it was “open” to a meeting with senior Chinese officials to discuss the open crisis over Beijing’s use of spy balloons. However, the spokesman for American diplomacy, net priceexplained that at this time there is no scheduled meeting of the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkwithout a Chinese superior office.

“We are open and committed to maintaining the lines of communication. We can talk on the phone, have meetings at our embassies in Beijing or Washington, hold meetings with officials in third countries, or travel to China,” Price said.

(With information from EFE)

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