Keeping Public Lands Out of Adversarial Hands Act

Key Points

• This bill would add the Secretary of the Interior to a special government committee that reviews foreign business deals. This would happen whenever a foreign company or person tries to buy land or resources right next to U.S. public lands, such as National Parks, forests, or wildlife refuges.
• The policy specifically targets buyers from four countries: China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. If a person or company from one of these nations tries to buy land near federal property, the government must investigate whether the deal poses a threat to national security.
• Lawmakers proposed this change to prevent foreign adversaries from using land near sensitive government sites for spying or to control important natural resources like water and minerals. It covers land managed by agencies like the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• If the Secretary of the Interior flags a suspicious land deal, the committee must decide if it is a security risk. If they find a problem, the government has the power to block the sale or take other actions to protect the area.
• These extra security checks would remain in place as long as those four countries are officially listed as foreign adversaries by the government. If a country is removed from that list in the future, these specific land-review rules for their citizens would end.

Impact Analysis

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