“The Chinese Communist Party owns GNC, and they’re operating OVER 80 storefronts on U.S. military bases,” Congressman Pat Harrigan
Rep. Harrigan warns Americans that we are not paying attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s influence that is already on our military installations. They’re selling to our troops, likely collecting personal data, and—just like TikTok—claim it’s not going back to China. The data they can collect has numerous points of entry to other data. The Chinese Communist Party used loopholes to acquire the company and hide its ownership.
At one point, it put hemp in protein shakes, endangering troops with the banned substance. Who knows what they could put into their products next?
Sadly, we get many of our key drugs from China, including diabetes drugs, antibiotics, and painkillers. During the pandemic, the CCP threatened to stop the flow of antibiotics. The reason? President Trump called COVID-19 the China Virus. We need to do something about that also.
Rep. Harrigan has a bill to stop foreign adversarial ownership – Russia, China, Iran – of companies on military installations.
Transcript from the first clip
“I think everybody understands that we have been working very hard in Congress to figure out how we try to stop our foreign adversaries, particularly China, from purchasing land right around our most sensitive military installations. A lot of people have been doing a lot of work on that.
“We have not been paying attention to who from the Chinese Communist Party is already occupying and operating on our military bases. And we found out that GNC, the supplement company, is wholly owned by the Chinese Communist Party. That doesn’t make any sense.
“They are already operating out of 80 different locations all across our military installations across our country, that has got to stop. So, the Military Installation Retail Security Act makes sure that we don’t have any… foreign adversarial owned companies that are on our military bases, that are in a position that have access and placement to take the information of our military service members, use that for nefarious reasons, because we all know how the CCP operates.
“It’s just unbelievable that we have a company owned by the CCP that’s operating our military installations. I’m going to stop that.”
I couldn’t believe this, @therealstoryoan couldn’t believe it, and you shouldn’t either.
The Chinese Communist Party owns GNC, and they’re operating OVER 80 storefronts on U.S. military bases.
I introduced a bill to shut it down and keep our adversaries off American… pic.twitter.com/JXhgGZMJD6
— Congressman Pat Harrigan (@RepPatHarrigan) April 5, 2025
The Chinese Communist Party saw the weakness in our system and illicitly acquired ownership of the once-American company GNC.
A partial transcript follows the video.
BREAKING: The Chinese Communist Party owns and operates more than 80 retail stores on U.S. military bases.
While everyone’s been focused on the CCP buying land AROUND sensitive military bases, the real threat is what’s already happening ON our military bases.
For years,… pic.twitter.com/SHiPLPucE4
— Congressman Pat Harrigan (@RepPatHarrigan) April 3, 2025
The Chinese Communist Party is on our military bases, and they are in contact with our military personnel.
“What if I told you that there is a company owned by the Chinese Communist Party independently operating over 80 retail stores on United States military bases? Let me be clear, a foreign adversary has a physical ongoing presence on our military installations, inside the wire, with possible access to our personnel and their information.”
No one is watching them.
“These stores are not directly monitored by the Department of Defense, and they are run with limited federal oversight. They are independently staffed, supplied, and managed by GNC, a national nutrition and supplement retailer that is now entirely owned and controlled by a hostile federal government. And every single day, American service members walk through their doors, they scan their IDs, they swipe their credit cards, they provide phone numbers, emails and home addresses. They enroll in loyalty programs. Some even hand over sensitive health information through supplement consultations. All of that data is collected by a company that is owned by the Chinese government. This is not just about names and addresses. It’s about behaviors, patterns, and vulnerabilities. “
It allows the CCP to build profiles of our troops.
“The Chinese government has the tools they need to build detailed, individualized profiles on our troops, tracking habits, routines, deployment cycles and even psychological flags, everything a hostile intelligence service needs to start shaping a target. Congress has spent a lot of time trying to curtail the purchase of land around our most sensitive military bases by our adversaries. My office is paying attention to land they already occupy on our military bases.
The CCP exploited our loopholes to gain control of the company.
“GNC was once an American company. It was founded in Pittsburgh in 1935, and it grew from a single health food store into a trusted national chain. That era ended in 2020. After filing for bankruptcy, GNC was sold to Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, a Chinese state-owned enterprise that answers directly to the Communist Party of China. But the groundwork for that takeover started earlier in 2018. Harbin bought a significant stake in GNC in 2019. GNC merged its manufacturing operations with a Chinese back company that maintains facilities in China. By the end of 2020, all American assets have been rolled into a new holding company that is now entirely owned by the Harbin US subsidiary.
“That is how the Chinese Communist Party gained total control of an American retail brand, and with it, access to the American military from the inside, and yet, GNC continues to operate freely on United States military bases through long-term contracts with the military exchange system.
A bureaucratic loophole
“These agreements are funneled through not appropriated fund instrumentalities, another bureaucratic loophole that values convenience over national security. This arrangement allows GNC to bypass Federal Acquisition rules, avoid registration in sam.gov, withhold ownership disclosures, and escape meaningful oversight. At every step, GNC saw the vulnerability in our system, and they walked straight through it.
The CCP hid their ownership.
“Even when GNC did register in the federal system in 2022 and 2023 it appears that they hid their ownership. The company did not disclose that it had a parent company but is fully controlled by a Chinese state-owned entity. The Biden administration failed to act, and the General Services Administration accepted GNC registration without any scrutiny. No questions were asked, no consequences were imposed, and no effort was made to protect American service members from a company controlled by a foreign adversary.”
They put hemp seeds in protein shakes, compromising troops.
“In September of last year, protein shakes sold at GNC locations on military bases were pulled from the shelves. They contain hemp seeds, a banned substance for military personnel. That product could have ended careers. It could have compromised unit readiness. The next batch could be something far more damaging, and there is no guarantee that it would be unintentional. GNC presence on our military bases isn’t just a vulnerability, it’s an open door. We’re talking about the potential of counterfeit products, surveillance tools, digital tracking and foreign control supply chains operating inside of some of the most sensitive environments in our country.
There are numerous points of entry and we knew about the risk. We ignored it.
“Every connected device, every in store promotion, every scan rewards card and downloaded app is a potential entry point. And the worst part we’ve known about the risk, and we’ve just decided to look the other way. That’s why I’ve introduced the military installation retail Security Act of 2025.”
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
