Communist China has been playing the long game against America's military infrastructure.
They've been buying up land near sensitive installations for years while the federal government looked the other way.
And two golf courses near a nuclear command base just exposed one ugly CCP infiltration strategy.
Chinese Intelligence Officer Owns Golf Courses Flanking Nuclear Strike Force Headquarters
Eugene Ji owns two golf courses on opposite sides of Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
That's the headquarters controlling America's intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombers.
The Golf Club at StoneBridge sits two miles to the north while Olde Oaks Golf Club is positioned two miles south, putting the base in a perfect squeeze between two Chinese-controlled properties.
Ji isn't just some businessman looking to make money on a couple of rundown golf courses.
He's held multiple official positions within the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department.
Republicans in Congress have worked for years to sanction the UFWD, calling it what it really is — a "disinformation network" that coordinates intelligence operations and influence campaigns targeting the United States.
The United Front Work Department uses a network of front organizations to gather intelligence on and manipulate individuals and institutions both inside China and around the world.
When British intelligence agency MI5 issued a rare public warning about Chinese influence operations last year, they specifically named the UFWD as one of Beijing's "magic weapons" for silencing critics and amplifying pro-CCP voices.
Ji bought both golf courses in 2013.
Since then, he's attended numerous meetings in China with UFWD officials, agreeing to serve as an "ambassador" to recruit talent for Chinese development zones focused on artificial intelligence, supercomputing, and robotics.
Those development zones are mandated to advance China's Military-Civil Fusion policy, where civilian technology advancement directly supports military modernization.
Golf Courses Provide Perfect Cover for Intelligence Operations Near America's Nuclear Arsenal
Here's what makes this situation so dangerous.
Barksdale Air Force Base houses the command center for America's entire fleet of ICBMs and nuclear bombers.
That's two of the three legs of America's nuclear triad sitting at one base.
"We spend billions of dollars on our bomber fleet," Jacqueline Deal of State Armor told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
"Chinese agents spend pennies on the dollar to put them in the crosshairs."
The golf courses have fallen into complete disrepair in recent years.
Online reviews describe them as a "dump" and list them among the worst golf courses in Louisiana, with reports of abandoned holes.
This raises an obvious question: why keep operating losing businesses unless the land itself is what matters?
Ji claimed he bought the properties to provide "networking opportunities for Chinese and American business people" and facilitate "people-to-people diplomacy."
But the physical deterioration of the courses tells a different story than the stated diplomatic mission.
"For the price of two apparently poorly-maintained courses, the CCP and the People's Liberation Army have likely secured an intelligence and sabotage bonanza," Deal explained.
China expert Gordon Chang warned that federal authorities need to investigate Ji immediately.
"Here we have someone connected to the Chinese regime owning land under an approach to one of the most important Air Force bases in the American homeland," Chang said.
"What more warning signs do we need?"
If war breaks out with China, Chang warned that Air Force Global Strike Command has to assume every B-52 at Barksdale will be destroyed.
"We need to investigate this guy, because when it comes to China, we should assume that there are no coincidences," Chang stated.
Congress Has Known About This Threat For Years But Failed To Close The Loopholes
This isn't an isolated case.
Chinese entities have been buying strategically located land near U.S. military installations across the country for more than a decade.
In 2024, President Biden ordered a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency mining operation dismantled near Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming — home to intercontinental ballistic missiles.
North Dakota blocked the Fufeng Group from building a corn mill near Grand Forks Air Force Base in 2023 after the Air Force warned it posed a "significant threat to national security."
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States couldn't even review the Fufeng transaction at first because the Department of Defense hadn't listed Grand Forks as a "sensitive site" requiring scrutiny.
That's the kind of bureaucratic incompetence that gets Americans killed.
Louisiana state lawmakers have led the charge on countering Communist China's land grabs, but gaps in federal oversight persist.
"Louisiana state lawmakers are national leaders in countering Communist China," Michael Lucci of State Armor told Fox News Digital.
"A Chinese intelligence official with huge property purchases next to Barksdale Air Force Base is proof positive that Chinese land acquisitions are strategic and malicious."
Josh Hodges of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said the case underscores vulnerabilities the federal government has failed to address for years.
"The CCP operates by buying proximity, embedding influence and exploiting blind spots near our most sensitive military installations," Hodges explained.
"It is long past due for the U.S. to revamp our counterintelligence efforts and take steps to address these vulnerabilities within our borders."
Twenty-nine states have enacted restrictions on foreign land purchases near sensitive sites, but enforcement varies wildly and federal coordination remains a mess.
While states scramble to protect critical infrastructure on their own, China's National Intelligence Law requires all Chinese companies to cooperate with state espionage efforts.
That means every Chinese-owned property near a U.S. military base is a potential intelligence collection or sabotage site.
"States must act quickly, and Louisiana must continue to lead, by not only banning Communist China from owning assets near military installations and critical infrastructure, but also by ejecting blatant security threats that threaten national security," Lucci warned.
Former Trump administration official Joe Grogan got straight to the point.
"It is unthinkable that agents of communist China could be allowed to take possession of property so close to one of our nation's most vital strategic assets," Grogan said.
"We can't confuse this insidious incursion with free enterprise."
Russia and China are already positioning themselves to control critical resources and territory while America debates whether it's racist to stop hostile foreign powers from buying land next to nuclear missile bases.
The Trump Administration inherited a federal government that enabled Chinese intelligence operations to flourish on American soil for over a decade.
Louisiana might be leading on this issue, but the federal response needs to match the scale of the threat before more damage is done.
Sources:
- Daily Caller News Foundation, "EXCLUSIVE: CCP Intel Official Owns Golf Clubs Flanking US Nuclear Missile Nerve Center," January 5, 2026.
- Andrew Mark Miller, "National security experts sound alarm over CCP-linked land ownership near US military bases," Fox News, January 8, 2026.
- U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP, "United Front 101" memo, September 2024.
- News9.com, "Chinese land purchases near U.S. military bases raise security concerns," October 13, 2025.
