Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) can’t keep his story straight about his relationship with China . Considering that he may be vice president in three months, that the People’s Republic of China has nuclear weapons pointed at the United States, and that Beijing spies on this country on a scale never seen in our history, this matters.
During his debate against Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) on Tuesday night, which even Democrats conceded didn’t go well for Walz, the Democratic vice presidential contender was asked about his claims that he was in Hong Kong when the Chinese Communist Party crushed student protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989. Local media showed Walz was home in Nebraska at the time. When asked to explain this discrepancy, Walz offered a 450-word salad but never answered the question, while calling himself “a knucklehead at times.” Eventually, he conceded that he “misspoke” about where he was that memorable summer, which was so significant to him that he scheduled his wedding on the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre in 1994.
Neither can Walz explain how many times he’s visited China.
Although he previously claimed to have journeyed to China about 30 times, Walz's campaign recently revised that downward by half, claiming that the governor made 15 or so trips . However, as I've reported , Walz’s relationship with Beijing raises significant counterintelligence concerns. After all, taking that many trips to China, often with school groups, would have needed the approval of the Ministry of State Security, the powerful Communist Party secret police. We know nothing regarding what the MSS knows about Walz, but given that service’s habit of spying intensely on foreigners on their turf, our counterspies have obvious questions here, and they seem to be asking them — at least privately.
The biggest question involves Walz’s 24-year National Guard career, first in Nebraska, then in Minnesota.
Media attention has focused on Walz’s rank and his retirement in 2005, shortly before his battalion was slated to deploy to Iraq. However, the more important matter is Walz’s security clearances. According to press reports, he was a staff sergeant when he first visited China in 1989. It's standard for senior noncommissioned officers in the National Guard to possess at least a secret-level security clearance, and some possess top secret.
But clearance holders have security obligations even at the secret level. Among the most important of these obligations is reporting unofficial foreign travel. If you hold a secret or higher clearance, you are required to inform your unit’s special security officer in advance if you plan to leave the U.S. for personal reasons. If you wish to visit a high-threat espionage country such as China or Russia, the SSO may decline your request. Even if your travel request is approved, the SSO may require you to receive a counterintelligence threat briefing to help keep you out of trouble during your trip.
I’ve given many such classified threat briefings to Guard and Reserve personnel. Frequently, they’re an eye-opener for the traveler because most people don’t ponder espionage threats during their vacations. Travelers are required to report any security incidents after they get home. For instance, if you were approached by someone you suspected was a foreign intelligence officer, or your hotel room got ransacked, you need to tell the SSO. This leaves a paper trail and may come up during your security clearance investigation, which is usually every five years for top secret and 10 years for secret.
Therefore, we have two possibilities. Either Walz, between 1989 and his retirement from the National Guard in 2005, left a substantial paper trail with his SSO regarding his many trips to China, almost certainly including counterintelligence briefings — and perhaps security incident reports. Or he didn’t. Given Walz’s habit of being economical with the truth regarding his sojourns to China, it can’t be ruled out that he omitted to tell the SSO what he was required to. That seems unlikely, given that Walz’s regular China junkets were featured in local media and many people knew about his panda-hugging habits. Still, anything’s possible.
And if Walz broke the rules regarding his security clearance, this isn’t someone who should have access to the nuclear football.
The good news is that Congress has asked for clarification. On Aug. 13, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) sent a detailed query to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the chairman of its military personnel subcommittee. Banks’s letter asks the right questions: Did Walz possess a security clearance during his National Guard service? Did Walz comply with security regulations regarding foreign travel and contacts? Did Walz ever come under counterintelligence investigation over all his trips to China?
The bad news is that the Defense Department is ignoring Banks’s request for information. Once again, the Biden-Harris administration is preventing Congress from performing constitutionally mandated oversight. As Banks explained the situation: “The more we learn about Tim Walz, the more questions need to be answered. It should be easy for the Pentagon to answer whether Tim Walz jeopardized national security or not. Lloyd Austin’s refusal to respond to my inquiry about Tim Walz’s security clearance makes you wonder: What are they hiding?”
We need to know the truth here. Although detailed answers to Banks’s questions may be classified, and are partly covered by the Privacy Act, voters nevertheless have a right to know if Walz played by the rules when he was in the military.
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Given how prominently Walz has highlighted his military service to boost his political career, it’s important to determine if he followed security regulations.
Come Jan. 20, 2025, he may be “one heartbeat away” from occupying the Resolute Desk.
John R. Schindler served with the National Security Agency as a senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer.
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