The U.S. government has decided to strengthen security reviews of real estate transactions by foreigners near military facilities.
On the 8th (local time), the U.S. Department of the Treasury released a proposed regulation expanding the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) when foreigners engage in real estate transactions close to military facilities. If CFIUS determines that foreign investments, such as real estate purchases, pose national security concerns, it can approve the transaction on the condition that the foreign party resolves the issues or prohibit the transaction altogether.
CFIUS manages a list of designated military facilities for review purposes, and this proposed regulation expands the number of such facilities. The proposal designates 40 additional military facilities, allowing CFIUS to review real estate transactions within a one-mile (approximately 1.6 km) radius. It also designates 19 more military facilities for review of transactions within a 100-mile (approximately 160 km) radius. As a result, the total number of military facilities under CFIUS oversight has increased to 227.
This measure comes just two months after the U.S. government, applying CFIUS regulations, ordered the sale of land owned by the Chinese cryptocurrency mining company MineOne Partners within a one-mile (approximately 1.6 km) radius of Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming in May.
In particular, concerns have recently been raised about China owning land near military bases and other key facilities, leading several U.S. states to pass laws prohibiting land ownership by nationals and companies from China and other adversarial countries.
The Treasury Department has been strengthening security reviews of foreign investments, including releasing a proposed regulation in April to enhance CFIUS’s enforcement and penalty powers.
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