A Chinese intelligence-linked businessman owns two golf courses that flank the Louisiana base housing the U.S. Air Force command responsible for two legs of America's nuclear triad, raising fresh national security concerns, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation reported on Monday.
Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees all U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear-capable bombers, is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport.
The base is bordered to the north and south by The Golf Club at StoneBridge and Olde Oaks Golf Club, a combined 340-acre property owned since 2013 by Eugene Ji, a Chinese American businessman with longstanding ties to the Chinese Communist Party, the investigation found.
Ji, whose Chinese name is Ji Yueqin, has held multiple positions connected to China's United Front Work Department, a CCP influence and intelligence body used to shape foreign opinion and gain access to sensitive information, according to Chinese government announcements, university records, and Louisiana business filings reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Ji is listed as an overseas committee member of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, a United Front-affiliated organization, in Chinese government and academic announcements as recently as 2024.
The House Select Committee on the CCP has described the United Front as a blend of influence operations and intelligence activities designed to advance Beijing's strategic interests abroad.
Ji's daughter, who serves as general manager of both golf courses, declined to comment on his background or affiliations, telling the Daily Caller that the matters were "unrelated" to golf operations.
Chinese state media and Ji's own 2014 autobiography indicate the golf courses were intended as a "platform" for networking between Chinese and American business leaders and as a venue for "people-to-people diplomacy," including hosting U.S. politicians and officials.
National security experts and lawmakers said Ji's ownership of land adjacent to a critical nuclear command base poses serious risks, even if no espionage incidents have been publicly reported.
"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," Jacqueline Deal, an advisory board member at the counter-CCP nonprofit State Armor, told the Daily Caller.
Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on the CCP, warned that China-linked entities have increasingly acquired land near sensitive U.S. military installations.
The Michigan Republican said that "the time for sleepwalking past China's spending spree on strategically vital land across the U.S. needs to end."
Former Air Force intelligence analyst L.J. Eads said United Front-linked operations are designed to appear benign while embedding CCP influence within local communities.
"This isn't a businessman who happens to own a golf course," Eads said. "This is a CCP political actor highlighted in Chinese government publications."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.