By A Chinese Communist Party intelligence figure has purchased a historic Washington building just hundreds of feet from the White House, raising concerns among former intelligence officials about espionage and surveillance at the heart of the nation’s capital.
According to an investigation by The Daily Caller News Foundation, the Philip Qiu and Family Foundation purchased the Securities Building on 15th Street on July 21 for $8.4 million. The century-old property sits roughly 650 feet northeast of the White House grounds and offers a direct line of sight toward the White House complex.
Public records identify the foundation’s namesake as Philip Qiu, also known as Qiu Feili, who has held multiple positions connected to Chinese security and intelligence organizations.
Qiu did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the DCNF.
His public statements leave little ambiguity about his feelings toward the Chinese Communist Party.
“The CCP is like a kind, but firm parent,” Qiu said in 2021, according to a DCNF translation of an announcement from a Chinese intel arm. “It has guided our people out of hardship, led China’s sons and daughters to build a new country and is steering us toward great national rejuvenation.”
Former intelligence officials say the location of the newly acquired property makes Qiu’s background particularly concerning.
“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, a 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 warned that the potential threat extends beyond traditional electronic surveillance.
“But what’s especially alarming are emerging ops that properties like this allow — like hidden drone swarms or shipping container missiles,” said Wright, who hosts The Wright Report podcast. “This kind of property is where the next 9/11 will come from. It’s coming.”
Ties to Chinese Security Apparatus
Qiu has held at least four Chinese government positions.
A 2024 University of New Haven Instagram post described the beginning of his “career as a detective in the Criminal Investigation Team in Shanghai.” The unit operates under the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, part of China’s Ministry of Public Security.
By the time Qiu entered a master’s program at Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2011, university records indicate he had also undergone combat training.
“Classmate Qiu Feili, who has undergone special forces training, served as a commander in the Red-Blue Battle, and not only directed his troops to successfully capture enemy positions, but also killed one-third of the opposing forces with 42 shots, achieving the best individual sniper record,” according to a DCNF translation of a university announcement.
Qiu has continued maintaining relationships with Chinese security organizations. He serves as honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Immigration Department Staff Association and helped organize events in 2023 and 2024 introducing Hong Kong students to Shanghai’s SWAT team.
He has also held at least three positions within organizations tied to the CCP’s United Front Work Department.
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has described United Front operations as a “blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations” designed to advance Beijing’s interests abroad, including shaping foreign policy and acquiring advanced technology. Beijing has also used military exchanges and influence organizations to cultivate relationships with prominent former American officials.
Qiu currently serves on the executive committee of the Shanghai branch of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. He is also chairman of the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Foundation, an organization within Shanghai’s United Front system.
At a 2021 foundation meeting, Qiu explicitly linked the organization’s work to directives from Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“[SOCF] will continue to execute General Secretary Xi Jinping’s directive to ‘comprehensively implement the party’s overseas Chinese affairs policy, unite the hearts of overseas Chinese and serve overall interests,’” Qiu said at a 2021 foundation meeting, according to a DCNF translation. “With overseas Chinese hearts turned toward the party and pursuing a common dream, [SOCF] will actively embody responsibility and commitment to the overseas Chinese community in public welfare, charity and people-to-people exchanges. [We] will strive to build SOCF into a charity with social influence to contribute the strength of the overseas Chinese community toward realizing the shared Chinese Dream.”
During other foundation activities, Qiu has referred to the CCP as “our party.”
The foundation’s secretary general has also served as a director of the Shanghai International Culture Association, which former Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Alex Joske has identified as a front for China’s Ministry of State Security.
“The MSS is roughly the CIA, with a dash of the FBI,” Wright told the DCNF. “The MPS, however, is a mash-up of DHS and FBI. The key difference is the MPS is generally the overt, visible, heavy hand of the state and party.”
Regarding the United Front, Wright said it “provides cover” for MSS operations “sort of like what the State Department allegedly does for the CIA abroad when a spy pretends to be a diplomat.”
“Bottom line: there is no real line between intel and non-intel agencies or officers in China. Anybody can be compelled for any role at any time — you don’t say no to President Xi.”
China specialist Gordon Chang said the combination of Qiu’s background and the building’s location should trigger immediate federal scrutiny.
“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,” Chang told the DCNF. “No ifs, ands, or buts.”
China’s influence efforts extend well beyond government officials. New Conservative Post reported last month that major American journalists participated in trips organized by a Chinese group that congressional researchers have tied to Beijing’s United Front influence network.
A Second Property Near the White House
The Securities Building is not Qiu’s only property near the White House.
The Philip Qiu and Family Foundation is headquartered at another historic property roughly half a mile north of the White House. Six other organizations controlled by Qiu are registered at the same address, including the Chinese American Museum in Washington.
🚨CCP intel official Philip Qiu, who is trained as a SNIPER, bought an historic building overlooking the White House.
China is surrounding our military bases & key assets. Now, they’re a stone's throw from the President and his senior team. @LenczyckiPhilip's must read 🧵👇 https://t.co/elROnd7fdt pic.twitter.com/tiS02eHLrL
— Michael Lucci (@Michael7ucci) August 13, 2026
Qiu co-founded the museum in 2017 with Chen Xiaoping, also known as Neil Chen, who previously chaired Qiu’s foundation.
Chen has held positions in Shanghai branches of both the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission has said CPPCC delegates “serve as proxies for CCP interests.”
Neither Chen nor the museum responded to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
The museum says it is not funded, controlled or influenced by a foreign government. But Chinese government entities have co-sponsored at least eight of its programs, according to the investigation.
Four involved religious organizations linked to the United Front Work Department. Three Buddhist events held since 2023 were conducted with Shanghai’s Longhua Temple and featured its abbot, Zhao Cheng, who serves on the Shanghai CPPCC standing committee and as deputy director of the United Front’s municipal Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee.
Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of the national-security nonprofit State Armor, described the security implications as “screamingly obvious.”
“CCP intelligence agents have been caught buying property around military installations and critical infrastructure where they commit espionage in preparation of sabotage,” Lucci warned. “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.”
The concern comes amid a series of cases involving alleged Chinese efforts to gain access to sensitive American military knowledge. New Conservative Post reported in February that federal authorities charged a former F-35 instructor pilot with illegally providing combat training to Chinese military aviators.
The purchase now presents Washington with a straightforward question: how someone with extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s security and influence apparatus was able to acquire a property with a direct view of one of the most sensitive government complexes in the United States.
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