Comer Seeks Information on DOD’s Deep-Sea Critical Mineral Mining Efforts to Counter Chinese Communist Party

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is examining the Department of Defense’s (DoD) efforts to comply with President Trump’s executive order calling for agencies to unleash American offshore initiatives and develop technology for deep-sea exploration and mineral mining to sustain the United States’s competitiveness with China. In a letter to DoD Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman Comer highlights the importance of U.S. innovation in deep-sea mining (DSM) and maintaining energy independence from China. Chairman Comer requests a staff level briefing on the actions DoD is taking to comply with the executive order and protect American interests and national security in the DSM sector. 
 
“The CCP has designs to extract and commercialize [seabed mineral] resources—and otherwise box-out the U.S. and its allies from direct access. The Committee seeks a staff-level briefing to understand how DOD is complying with President Trump’s executive order. Technologies developed for deep-sea exploration and mining will greatly impact advancement in both the maritime and defense sectors, making the dual-use nature of these technologies important for both commercial use and U.S. national security. As DSM is largely unregulated, Chinese companies and the CCP are actively pursuing the extraction and commercialization of deep-sea minerals through DSM, while simultaneously developing and testing new maritime and military capabilities,” wrote Chairman Comer. 
 
As China engages in political warfare and develops more advanced DSM technology, the U.S. has a vested interest in maintaining its global leadership and national defense capabilities through mining critical minerals. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use of strategic partnerships emboldens Chinese encroachment on sovereign waters and threatens the security of smaller nations in the Pacific. This letter continues the Oversight Committee’s government-wide investigation into the CCP’s influence both at-home and abroad. Federal agencies and Congress must take the CCP’s political threats seriously and work to improve DSM capabilities to strengthen national security and defend Americans against the CCP. 
 
“China is establishing Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with small island nations around the globe, particularly in areas with high concentrations of critical minerals. This allows China to form strategic partnerships and access to waters rich in underwater critical minerals. The CCP is emboldened to encroach upon the sovereign waters of less powerful countries in the Pacific who may not want to partner with the CCP, but do not have the power to protect their waters against China’s military and commercial reach. The long-term repercussions could impact the freedom of navigable waters, commercial enterprise of DSM, and the sovereignty of smaller, less powerful Pacific Island nations,” concluded Chairman Comer.  
 
Read the letter to DOD Secretary Hegseth here.