Secure Freedom Minute

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Mike Pompeo is arguably the best Secretary of State in modern times. In particular, he has proven to be a clear-eyed, robust and articulate champion of President Trump’s policy of opposing the Chinese Communist Party and its comprehensive efforts to dominate the world. 

Yesterday, Secretary Pompeo sharply contrasted the Trump administration’s approach to how the Obama-Biden team used to “kowtow and appease” Beijing at the expense of our national security and interests. He highlighted efforts now underway to root out Chinese corporations that engage in espionage and data theft, warning that Americans should download TikTok software “only if you want your private information in the hands of the CCP.”

Mr. Pompeo also cited Huawei, which the Pentagon recently identified as one of 20 “Communist Chinese military companies” doing business in the U.S.

Sen. Cotton’s right: “That needs to stop now.”

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Ever since the Pentagon revealed that there are more than 20 “Communist Chinese military companies” doing business in the United States, it’s been obvious that, as Sen. Tom Cotton observed, “That needs to stop now.” I am happy to report that it’s going to happen, sooner or later.

One reason is that a blockbuster analysis published yesterday by RWR Advisory Group makes clear that thirteen of these People’s Liberation Army front companies are massively tapping our capital markets. Another tell, is that a strong bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives voted for an amendment that would block Chinese companies from penetrating our power grid and other infrastructure.

Finally, the acting Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Marco Rubio, announced yesterday that he would shortly introduce legislation to ban malevolent CCP companies from our cap markets.

President Trump should do that now.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Ever since the Pentagon revealed that there are more than 20 “Communist Chinese military companies” doing business in the United States, it’s been obvious that, as Sen. Tom Cotton observed, “That needs to stop now.” I am happy to report that it’s going to happen, sooner or later.

One reason is that a blockbuster analysis published yesterday by RWR Advisory Group makes clear that thirteen of these People’s Liberation Army front companies are massively tapping our capital markets. Another tell, is that a strong bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives voted for an amendment that would block Chinese companies from penetrating our power grid and other infrastructure.

Finally, the acting Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Marco Rubio, announced yesterday that he would shortly introduce legislation to ban malevolent CCP companies from our cap markets.

President Trump should do that now.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission formally designated two giant Chinese telecommunications firms as nationally security threats. As a result, American carriers will be unable to use our government’s funds to buy equipment for their networks from Huawei or ZTE.

Huawei happens also to have been recently identified by the Pentagon as one of 20 “Communist Chinese military companies” doing business in the United States.

Yet, as things stand now, both Huawei and ZTE are still allowed to raise money in U.S. capital markets – as are at least a dozen other People’s Liberation Army corporations busily underwriting their malevolent activities, including the CCP’s vast arms build-up, with our money.

As Senator Tom Cotton put it recently, “That needs to stop, now.” President Trump should make doing so a priority with respect to ZTE, Huawei and other Chinese corporations that threaten our national security.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Before the Chinese Communist Party killed over one-hundred-thousand Americans, it killed liberty in Hong Kong. Yesterday, the CCP buried its last vestiges.

First, the CCP’s virus did what no other act of repression could – namely, shut down Hong Kong’s pro-freedom demonstrations. Then, Beijing started arresting and, in some cases, disappearing its opponents.

Now, pursuant to a new national security law the Chinese Communist Party did not even deign to let Hong Kongers read, they will be persecuted and punished even more aggressively.

What will President Trump do? The very least would be ensuring that companies that are used to oppress the people of China – and from now on those of Hong Kong – and that build the Chinese military’s missiles, bombers and warships that threaten ours can no longer do business or raise money here.

Shut them down, Mr. President.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

The Free World is about to get significantly smaller. That will be the practical effect of the enactment in the next few days of the Chinese Communist Party’s hated national security law that will place Hong Kong firmly behind its totalitarian Bamboo Curtain.

The question is: Will the CCP pay any appreciable price for crushing freedom in this fashion? If not, it will surely assault liberty in Taiwan, elsewhere in East Asia and probably far beyond.

Fortunately, President Trump can simultaneously punish the Chinese Communists and rectify a serious national security problem. The Pentagon says there are more than 20 People’s Liberation Army companies operating here, penetrating our society and economy, stealing our technology and bilking our investors. That’s unconscionable and, as Sen. Tom Cotton said yesterday, it “needs to stop, now.”

Shut them down, Mr. President, for Hong Kong and America.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Twenty-one years ago, a statute was enacted requiring the Department of Defense to report to Congress the number and names of “Communist Chinese military companies” that are operating inside the United States. From the Clinton administration on, the Pentagon violated the law by failing to provide such information.

Until yesterday, when the Defense Department identified twenty corporations central to the Chinese Communist Party’s defense-industrial base that have been allowed to do business and raise funds with impunity from inside this country. And that’s just a first, partial listing of all such companies.

This is absolutely outrageous. It’s an utter and contemptible betrayal of our nation. Those responsible must be held accountable – both for allowing this travesty and for failing to disclose it. And PLA-tied companies must immediately be prevented from doing here any further damage to our people and security.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

A defining issue for our time is the fact that the Chinese Communist Party is our enemy.

For example, the CCP has been waging “unrestricted warfare” on this country for decades, with devastating effects for our economy, industrial base, middle class and national security. The virus the CCP deliberately unleashed on us has killed over a hundred-thousand Americans so far, with no end in sight. Etcetera, etcetera.

Yet, despite such evidence, we continue to allow the Communist Chinese to underwrite such activities by tapping our capital markets for trillions of dollars. On Monday, our Committee on the Present Danger: China warned Senate leaders that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton has been an enabler of that lunacy.

We need to end, not perpetuate, this practice. And remove, not promote, those who think we can safely do otherwise.

This is Frank Gaffney. Learn more at PresentDangerChina.org.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Over the weekend, the Chinese Communist Party confirmed that it will be, as President Trump put it last month, “absolutely smothering” the liberties of the people of Hong Kong that it promised to respect for another nearly three decades.

Beijing announced Saturday that it will be institutionalizing its repression of what the CCP calls “troublemakers” in the former British colony. A new investigative unit will create the pretexts for arresting them and the hated Chinese puppet, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, will use new judges to legitimate such apprehensions.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says such changes will reduce Hong Kong to the sorry status of any other city in totalitarian China. That will mean an end to its favored trade treatment by the United States and the rule of law that long made its securities exchanges attractive to foreign investors.

This is Frank Gaffney

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Well, that hasn’t taken long. The cumulative effect of physical attacks, abusive rhetoric and official hostility towards police has started translating into vacuums of power on America’s streets.

In Atlanta, where the mayor says police morale is “down ten-fold,” some officers are calling in sick, others have resigned. Elsewhere, they have simply not responded, even to frantic 911 calls. And in Seattle’s occupied “Capitol Hill Organized Protest,” police have been ordered only to enter when there are “significant life-safety issues.” Otherwise, if you’re in that zone, you’re on your own.

The reality is that the uniformed law enforcement professionals who put their lives on the line for us every day – the overwhelming majority of whom are highly competent and dedicated public servants – may be reaching the point where they simply won’t do it anymore.

Don’t defund those police, defend them.

This is Frank Gaffney.