Peace Garden News

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), at a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing, discussed a proposal from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to expand its jurisdiction over Grand Forks Air Force Base. He also questioned Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence, and Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, about security, moral, and ethical concerns in Haiti. Excerpts and full video are below.

https://youtu.be/BNTaHABvTeY

CFIUS yesterday indicated it would seek to add Grand Forks Air Force Base to its list of highly-sensitive military bases, expanding the committee’s jurisdiction to cover lands within 100 miles of the installation. When the committee reviewed the Fufeng Group’s purchase of land just 12 miles from the base late last year, it decided it did not have jurisdiction over the matter. Read the Senator’s statement.

“Is there an increased intelligence involvement, or scrutiny, of land purchases by foreign entities, particularly adversarial foreign entities?” asked Senator Cramer. 

“Yes, is the simple answer,” responded Director Haines. “Basically, as we have enacted tools such as CFIUS, using the Chinese as an example, they have figured out ways to get around some of these issues in order to still try to achieve the results they're looking to achieve.” 

“Clearly, a counterintelligence threat, Senator, you laid that out,” responded Lieutenant General Berrier. “From a foreign perspective, we see this behavior and activity in other countries around the world. Clearly a huge counterintelligence threat.”

He then raised concerns about current conditions in Haiti and asked about potential ways to address emerging risks and challenges.

“It’s easy to keep to talking about the big [threats] that are obvious and always in front of us. But there are other smaller skirmishes here and there that may not be as significant, but still are significant. I'd like your take on one in particular, and that is what's going on in Haiti,” said Senator Cramer. “Could you tell me a little bit about what you’re seeing in Haiti, and to the degree you're able to tell me, what's being done and what can be done?”

“I couldn't agree more with the fact this is a really vexing issue and one that should be focused on,” responded Director Haines. “We have a lot of analytic products. I'm happy to provide you what I think is the best we have on this, but none of it is optimistic, which is to say this is a really challenging situation, and it does not look as if it is going to get better any time soon."

“I think there are security concerns, and moral and ethical concerns,” responded Lieutenant General Berrier. “When I look at the loss of credibility in the government and government institutions, their ability to provide services, a terrible economy, a population at risk, and at the same time, this rise of these organized criminal elements that seem to be taking over and challenging the security forces. Really a perfect storm, and in our hemisphere, we are paying attention to that.”

Background: 

Senator Cramer joined NewsNation to discuss worldwide threats ahead of this hearing. In the interview, he discussed the Biden administration’s defense budget request, U.S. aid to Ukraine, nuclear capabilities, and more.

He also penned an op-ed in the Washington Examiner last week regarding foreign adversaries purchasing U.S. farmland.

Original source can be found here.