“No Chinese citizen should be permitted to own, lease, or occupy any real estate that gives him or her the ability to surveil any sensitive federal installation,” says Gordon Chang, a frequently enlisted China expert. “No ifs, ands, or buts” (Daily Caller, August 13, 2026).
It is hard to disagree, and the White House must count as a sensitive federal installation. But no alarm bells seem to have gone off as Jemal’s Securities Building LLC prepared to sell the property. Perhaps Philip Qiu’s history with the Chinese Communist Party didn’t come up during the background check.
A senior Chinese Communist Party intelligence official is the new owner of a historic building overlooking the White House Complex, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered.
Located approximately 650 feet northeast of the White House grounds, the 100-year-old Securities Building on 15th Street was purchased on July 21, 2026 for $8.4 million by the Philip Qiu and Family Foundation, filings show. The building’s new owner, Philip Qiu, has held numerous positions within Chinese intelligence and state security arms, according to university records and DCNF translations of Chinese government announcements.
Qiu did not respond to multiple requests for comment….
Qiu’s ownership of The Securities Building poses an urgent national security threat and must be investigated by federal authorities, multiple intelligence experts told the DCNF.
“This property allows access for big splashy intel ops as well as for more classic ops—like a listening post or Stingray-like systems to collect phone calls, text messages, and digital exhaust,” Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA operations officer, told the DCNF. “That’s all great for collecting targeting information to later ‘bump’ or recruit targets out in the world, who otherwise work inside a key U.S. government building.”
Wright also says that the building could hide “drone swarms or shipping container missiles” and thus enable the next 9/11.
The Daily Caller catalogs the many CCP positions that Qiu has held, including stints in the United Front Work Department, which the House Select Committee on the CCP describes as a “blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations.” He has served on a committee of the Shanghai branch of the UFWD’s All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. The ACFROC has reportedly been involved in forcible returns of overseas Chinese to China.
According to Michael Lucci, CEO of State Armor, “the security risks posed by Qiu’s ownership of properties near the White House are ‘screamingly obvious.’ ”
“Now even more of our most important national assets are being put at risk by the proximity of a man who has multiple CCP intelligence and security affiliations just 200 meters from executive facilities that should be completely off limits from adversary actors. We need government action to force the sale of the commercial property controlled by the CCP associate and a ban on this happening in the future.”
Also see:
Daily Caller Foundation: “EXCLUSIVE: Chinese Communist Party Quietly Operates Shadow Justice System In US Cities” (January 29, 2025)
“The DCNF found that not only are all the identified nonprofits led by individuals working with a Chinese intelligence service called the United Front Work Department, but some of their leaders have also explicitly discussed forced repatriation operations with Ministry of Public Security officials in China.”
