Military Suffers With Sale of Company to China

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Human Events:

The U.S. will lose access to critical materials used in military technology and the country’s electrical grid if the Obama administration approves the controversial sale of a bankrupt American company to a Chinese manufacturer, warns a former Defense Department official.

The Wanxiang Corporation has moved to snatch up the failed A123 Systems enterprise that was financed in part with a $249 million taxpayer-funded grant to produce advanced lithium ion batteries.

A decision is expected this month from the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) as to whether it will approve the sale or reject it on the grounds a sale poses a threat to national security.

Dean Popps, who served as deputy assistant secretary of the Army and acting assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology under the Obama and George W. Bush administration, says losing the technology will hamper military readiness.

“You don’t want to be building a military spy satellite and be reliant on a lithium ion battery that’s made in China because you don’t make it anymore,” said Popps, who serves as co-chair of the Strategic Materials Advisory Council, which opposes the sale to Wanxiang.