Satellite Images Uncover China’s Buildup In Cuba, Triggering U.S. Spy Concerns

China’s aggressive push into Cuba is sounding alarm bells, with fears of covert surveillance operations targeting the United States, a concerning new report from Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reveals. 

The worrying findings, drawn from open-source intelligence, expose a suspected circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA) at Cuba’s Bejucal signals intelligence site, just a stone’s throw from Havana, according to Fox News. The antenna could zero in on radio signals from 3,000 to 8,000 miles away—putting U.S. military bases and even Washington, D.C. within range, the news outlet noted.

“The CCP’s poisonous alliance with Cuba has posed significant threats to U.S. national security for decades,” House Intellience Committee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AK) told Fox News. “Their alleged involvement in signals intelligence hubs in Cuba is outward, unconcealed adversarial behavior against the U.S. The CCP’s actions are becoming increasingly more bold and thereby detrimental to Western Hemisphere security.”

The report’s findings have sparked so much concern on Capitol Hill that Republicans are seeking a briefing from Homeland Security Secretary Noem.

“The PRC is positioning itself to systematically erode U.S. strategic advantages without ever firing a shot,” read a letter written by Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and a group of other lawmakers to Noem. “The geographic proximity of suspected PRC-linked facilities in Cuba to sensitive U.S. installations, including Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Kennedy Space Center, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, may enable the PRC to monitor American detection and response capabilities, map electronic profiles of U.S. assets, and prepare the electromagnetic environment for potential future exploitation.”

“If left unchecked, the PRC’s activities in Cuba could establish a forward operating base for electronic warfare, enable intelligence collection, and influence operations that directly undermine U.S. national security interests,” the lawmakers added.

In 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that China and Cuba reached an agreement under which Beijing would pay Cuba several billion dollars to establish an electronic surveillance facility on Cuban territory, aimed at monitoring the United States.

“We are deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people. The United States must respond to China’s ongoing and brazen attacks on our nation’s security,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in a joint statement at the time. We must be clear that it would be unacceptable for China to establish an intelligence facility within 100 miles of Florida and the United States, in an area also populated with key military installations and extensive maritime traffic.”