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Government officials are raising flags following a Wall Street Journal report detailing massive land acquisitions around Travis Air Force Base in California.
A company called Flannery Associates LLC has spent around $800 million buying roughly 52,000 acres of land since 2018. The land acquisitions caught the attention of Rep. John Garamendi, who asked the Air Force to investigate the matter.
"I have every reason in the world to believe that this land is adjacent to a critical national security platform Travis Air Force Base. Therefore -- an area where spy operations or any other nefarious activity could take place...that could detrimentally impact the ability of Travis Air Force Base to operate in a moment of national emergency," Garamendi told KGO.
"Now, literally three sides of that base are totally controlled by the Flannery group," he added.
According to The National News Desk, the Air Force's Foreign Investment Risk Review Office has been investigating the purchases for the past eight months. So far, they have been unable to determine who is behind the company.
Because most of the land is zoned for farming, the United States Department of Agriculture has also been investigating the purchases.
Flannery Associates responded to the USDA inquiry and denied claims it was buying the land for foreign stakeholders.
"No foreign person or group holds any significant interest or substantial control over Flannery, either now or at the time of any land purchase made by Flannery," the company said in a letter to the USDA.
Garamendi remains skeptical about the intentions of whoever controls Flannery Associates.
"We have heard scheme after scheme that makes no sense at all," Garamendi said. "We're going to build a deep water port. Really? Around Travis Air Force Base? Which is 10 miles from the Bay. No, you're not... We're going to farm... well, at that price, you're going to lose a lot of money farming. Well, we're going to build a city... No, you're not going to build a city...so none of the reasons why the land is being acquired make any sense at all."