By Assemblyman Alex Sauikcie

The recent revelations of Chinese surveillance balloons have brought even more focus on national security issues. Whether you believe the one that traversed our country this month was a serious spying effort or a test of how America would respond, it should help people recognize that there are countries “playing the long game” to overtake the United States not only militarily, but economically and otherwise.

While China isn’t the only one, its efforts have been many, varied and particularly noticeable. Before the spy balloon floated without challenge over our most sensitive nuclear weapons facilities, China had been pouring money into American universities, infiltrating businesses and stealing intellectual property and technology, and deploying spyware like Tik Tok into our society. Chinese spies have been discovered in the employ of a U.S. Senator and in an intimate personal relationship with a member of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee.

More recently, reports have noted that Chinese-affiliated companies have been buying American real estate, particularly agricultural land, and land near military facilities. A congressman has also raised questions about Chinese-related ownership of at least two American schools with Army and Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs. Although national security is the job of the federal government, it’s also the responsibility of state governments to do their part. I’ve been working on how New Jersey can protect itself, and by extension our country, from hostile foreign powers.

As a member of the Assembly Agriculture and Food Security Committee, I’m concerned about the fact that investing in foreign farmlands is part of China’s “One Belt One Road” plan, which calls for more direct control of its food supply chain. China’s foreign farmland ownership exponentially exploded between 2010 and 2020, from $81 million to $1.8 billion.

Therefore, I introduced a bill (A5120) to ban foreign governments and persons from owning farmland in our state. Nine other states already restrict foreign ownership of agricultural land, and at least eight others are considering similar bans. Americans should own our valuable farmland to ensure our food security.

On the issue of land purchases, we also have to be wary of possible threats to critical infrastructure. I’m reviewing laws passed in other states designed to protect such facilities to see if they would work in New Jersey.

Almost two years ago, Texas enacted the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act in response to a cyber attack on its Colonial Pipeline which transports natural gas, Russian attacks on the software used by the city of Austin, and coordinated strikes in 2019 against operations in several Texas cities. Under that law, “critical infrastructure” includes the power grid, computer networks, water treatment or chemical facilities and communication systems.

The law bans businesses and government officials from making infrastructure agreements with certain foreign countries, or allowing them to control, direct, or have remote access to any of the state’s main systems.

An example of inadvertent risk is the case of Sun Guangxin, a member of the Chinese Communist Party and a former officer in the Chinese military, who bought 130,000 acres in southwest Texas near an Air Force base to develop a wind farm. This gives his company access to the state’s power grid, which includes possibly compromising energy information as well as the potential to manipulate or attack the state’s energy supply.

Power distribution systems are, of course, particularly important since an interruption in power could destroy food supplies, affect emergency and medical services, and cause more harm to our small businesses. A former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said that because electrical substations house transformers that transfer power across regions, they may be the most vulnerable elements in the country’s electrical grid.

At least nine substations have been attacked recently in North Carolina, Washington state and Oregon, cutting power to tens of thousands of people. We should act before such dangerous attacks come to our state.

I’m cosponsoring a bill (A2480) to require electric public utilities that control an electric distribution substation to have a plan to harden the substation against attacks. An electric company would have to submit a plan to the state Board of Public Utilities for approval. I’m also working on legislation to increase penalties for attacking a substation.

One of the first things people ask when something goes wrong is why nobody had properly prepared for it, or tried to prevent it. This is especially true when the government that is funded by our tax dollars lets us down. The Legislature must act quickly to protect New Jersey residents from known threats.

Alex Sauickie is a life-long Jackson resident who represents his home town and 13 other towns in the State Assembly.

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Note: This opinion piece originally appeared in The Jackson Times by Jersey Shore Online in its publication dated February 18, 2023.