Three senators lead effort to ban Chinese-owned GNC from military installations over spying concerns

Efforts to remove Chinese-owned GNC from US military bases gained momentum this week as Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., introduced companion legislation to a House-led bill targeting the nutrition retailer.

Some 85 GNC stores currently operate on American military installations.

Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., first introduced a bill to ban the company from doing business on American bases, citing national security and espionage concerns.

Now, fellow North Carolina Republican Budd is leading a similar effort in the Senate, decrying the stores as hubs to “exploit personal data.” 

Budd, joined by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., introduced the Military Installation Retail Security Act, which would prohibit the Department of Defense from allowing businesses owned by adversarial nations – including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea – to operate on US bases. 

At North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, four GNC stores service approximately 53,700 troops, nearly 10% of the US Army.  

“Adversarial nations have no place owning and operating businesses on US military bases, all the while gaining personal identification information of American citizens, just to turn a profit,” Budd said in a statement. 

 “We shouldn’t be allowing Chinese-affiliated companies in the United States, let alone on our military bases.

This bill will ensure our adversaries can’t exploit our military,” Cotton added. 

While much of Congress has focused on preventing Chinese land acquisitions near US military installations, Harrigan said he was alarmed to find that a Chinese-owned company was already operating on US bases largely unnoticed.

“It’s even crazier [than foreign land purchases],” Harrigan told Fox News Digital last week. 

In June 2020, vitamin retailer GNC filed for bankruptcy and was fully acquired by Harbin Pharmaceuticals – a partially state-owned Chinese enterprise that had already purchased a 40% stake in the company in 2018.

In 2019, GNC agreed to integrate its manufacturing with International Vitamin Corporation (IVC), which has a consortium of Chinese investors. 

The company, founded in Pittsburgh, had already been operating on US bases for years at the time of its sale, and thus its potential to help with Chinese surveillance on military bases was overlooked.

Roughly 85 GNC stores on military installations operate under “long-term concessions” contracts, meaning they are operated, staffed and supplied directly by GNC.

“I’m glad to have Sen. Budd step in to help drive this forward and make sure CCP-owned companies have zero place inside America’s military infrastructure,” Harrigan said of the new Senate bill.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a GNC spokesperson pushed back on the legislation, saying: “Our systems are independently monitored and meet strict federal standards, partaking in multiple audits throughout the year.”

“We love our military customers. Their well-being, whether it’s their personal health or the safety of their information, will always come first. We’re honored to be part of their communities and will continue to safeguard their information just like we do all our customers,” GNC said. 

Harrigan said the stores could identify individuals with vulnerabilities by tracking frequent purchases of testosterone, sleep aids or any other supplements.

It could also potentially monitor deployment cycles based on changes in buying patterns, he added.

In-store WiFi and mobile data tracking could reveal troop geolocations, Harrigan claimed, and loyalty apps or promo emails could be used to embed malicious links or software.

“This should be common sense,” said Scott. “Allowing companies controlled by our biggest foreign adversaries – like Communist China, Russia and North Korea – to operate on US military bases is a completely unacceptable threat.”