Government panel makes federal employees invest in China’s military threat

‘Committee on the Present Danger: China’ Urges Reversal of Decision to Underwrite PRC Threat

WASHINGTON, D.C.— On Nov. 13, just 48 hours after today’s national celebration of our veterans, an obscure federal board may confirm an earlier decision that would invest their retirement funds and those of other government personnel in companies helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) repress its own people and threaten ours. On Nov. 14, the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) held a Threat Briefing to assess the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board’s actions—and their potentially dire implications for the FRTIB’s fiduciary responsibilities and the national security.

At issue is the question of whether the federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) will mirror the Morgan Stanley Capital International All-Country World ex-U.S. Index (MSCI ACWI) that includes Chinese enterprises the CCP relies upon to: surveil, control and punish Uighur Muslims, Tibetans, Christians, Falun Gong and other Chinese citizens; construct and fortify islands in the South China Sea; proliferate missiles and proscribed technologies; and build advanced weapons with which to kill American servicemen and women and civilians. None of these companies meet U.S. capital market standards for disclosure and accountability.

The Threat Briefing featured comments by a senior executive branch official, leading legislators, financial and national security experts who oppose the FRTIB’s that would effectively compel federal employees—civilian and military, past and present—to invest in such Chinese companies if they want to diversify their retirement investments by including international companies. The CPDC also unveiled a petition signed by thousands of concerned Americans that appeals to President Donald Trump and the Congress to “prevent the Thrift Savings Plan from being used to finance those corporate instruments of an adversary state that seeks to extinguish our freedoms and everything we hold dear as a nation.” In addition, the Threat Briefing saluted the introduction in both the Senate and House of legislation designed to do just that.

Featured speakers included:

Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer (via video)[1]

Rep. Paul Gosar, Member, House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s National Security Subcommittee[2]
Brian Kennedy*, Chairman, CPDC

Frank Gaffney*, Vice Chairman, CPDC (Moderator)

Roger Robinson, former Senior Director, International Economic Affairs, Reagan National Security Council

Joseph Bosco*, Esq., former China Country Desk Officer, Office of the Secretary of Defense

Christopher Iacovella, CEO of the American Securities Association
Kevin Freeman*, CFA, Host, Blaze TV’s “Economic War Room with Kevin Freeman” (via video)

* Members of the Committee on the Present Danger

WHO: The Committee on the Present Danger: China

WHAT: Remarks by senior government and financial sector leaders, national security experts

WHERE: Hillsdale College Kirby Center, 227 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington, D.C.

WHEN: 9 to 11:30 a.m. ET Thursday, Nov. 14

WHY: To assess the FRTIB’s action with respect to investing the pension funds of veterans and other federal employees, past and present, in malevolent Chinese companies

HOW: For media to register, contact [email protected]

Live-stream the event at www.facebook.com/securefreedom or www.youtube.com/securefreedom

The CPDC’s mission statement:

The mission of the “Committee on the Present Danger: China” is to help defend America through public education and advocacy against the full array of conventional and non-conventional dangers posed by the People’s Republic of China. As with the Soviet Union in the past, Communist China represents an existential and ideological threat to the United States and to the idea of freedom—one that requires a new American consensus regarding the policies and priorities required to defeat this threat. And for this purpose, it is necessary to bring to bear the collective skills, expertise and energies of a diverse group of experts on China, national security practitioners, human rights and religious freedom activists and others who have joined forces under the umbrella of the “Committee on Present Danger: China.”

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To interview representatives from the Committee on the Present Danger: China, contact [email protected], Patrick Benner, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, or Deborah Hamilton, ext. 102.

[1] In an op-ed article published in the Wall Street Journal on Oct. 23, Secretary Spencer was particularly critical of what he described as the “insanity” of our funding our enemies’ increasing threat. He concluded: “As Secretary of the Navy, I have a duty to represent the dedicated members of America’s naval forces and ensure that, as investors, they are not unwittingly helping to underwrite the threats China and Russia pose to their lives. For the good of the country and those who serve it, the FRTIB must reverse its decision to adopt the All Countries World Index—and do it before a single dollar from its fund pays for a weapons system aimed in our direction.”

[2] On Oct. 22, a bipartisan group of six United States Senators led by Sens. Marco Rubio and Jeanne Shaheen made a similar, urgent appeal. In a letter to FRTIB Chairman Michael Kennedy, the legislators urged the Board to reverse its earlier decision which they said “would effectively invest the retirement savings of America’s civil servants and military personnel in constituent companies of the [Morgan Stanley] All Country World ex-US [index] that assist in the Chinese government’s military activities, espionage and human rights abuses, as well as many other Chinese companies that lack basic financial transparency.”