House GOP Launches Government-Wide Probe Into Federal Response to CCP Political Warfare

U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, speaks at a media event at the National Press Club on Jan. 30, 2023, in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

House Oversight & Accountability Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) announced March 13 that his panel has launched “a government-wide investigation” into the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “ongoing efforts to target, influence, and infiltrate every sector and community in the United States.”

That probe will include analysis of how federal agencies are combatting CCP’s influence operations and “political warfare” strategies in ascertaining best steps “to thwart the CCP’s political and economic warfare campaign,” Mr. Comer said in a statement.

“Without firing a single bullet,” he said, “the Chinese Communist Party is waging war against the U.S. by targeting, influencing, and infiltrating every economic sector and community in America.

“We know,” Mr. Comer continued, “that this coordinated influence and infiltration campaign by the CCP threatens U.S. military readiness, the technology sector, financial markets, agriculture industry, education systems, and intellectual property. The lives and security of all Americans are affected.”

In the coming months, the chairman said his panel will conduct several hearings “to address this national security threat.” He sent letters to nine federal agencies calling on them to “provide information on how they are combatting CCP warfare.”

In his 12-page March 13 letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Mr. Comer asks him and other Department of Justice (DOJ) representatives to appear before the oversight panel to discuss “the CCP’s systematic efforts to infiltrate the U.S. and the response of federal agencies.”

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“The committee seeks information about what the U.S. Department of Justice is doing to protect Americans from the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) ambitions for global dominance,” the letter states. “This includes [DOJ’s] efforts to safeguard targeted communities, including American businesses, Chinese Americans, and our country’s justice system from CCP political warfare.

To effectively address the subversive infiltration presented by “Beijing’s challenge,” Mr. Comer said officials must be “clear in public about the actions and intentions of the Chinese party-state” and be “publicly accountable for the actions the U.S. government takes in response.”

In his eight-page March 13 letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack, Mr. Comer asks the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to discuss the CCP’s “active infiltration of American farming, and efforts  (USDA) is undertaking to protect the American food supply and agricultural industry from this threat.”

Mr. Comer notes in the letter to Mr. Vilsack that “it has been reported that ‘China has breached the inner walls of the U.S. agriculture industry in what has arguably been the most expansive heist in farming history and is currently attempting to steal or hack every conceivable facet of U.S. agriculture technology.’”

Mr. Comer makes similar entreaties in letters to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

In each, he concludes, the committee “implores each federal agency to uphold its duty to the American communities for whom they are responsible.”

In his eight-page March 13 letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chair Willie Phillips, Mr. Comer asked the commission to discuss “the CCP’s destructive aims in the energy field, including its dangerous efforts to control the global lithium-ion battery supply chain.”

In his eight-page March 13 letter to National Science Foundation’s Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, Mr. Comer asks him to appear before the committee to testify about “the CCP’s weaponization of U.S.–backed research and technology for uses that are contrary to U.S. national security and competitiveness.”

Mr. Comer specifically requests the National Science Foundation (NSF) to discuss “foreign government talent recruitment programs” and what it is doing “to ensure its efforts effectively counteract serious threats posed by the CCP to American research security.”