by Rod D. Martin, Frank Gaffney, et al.
February 9, 2026
Our Committee on the Present Danger presents this in-depth vital webinar on the UK’s sellout of America’s most vital Indian Ocean base to China, and Trump’s strategy to thwart it.
The UK’s hard-left Prime Minister Keir Starmer, fresh off his Beijing trip, is seeking parliamentary approval to surrender British sovereignty over — and, inevitably, U.S. use of — Diego Garcia, a strategically vital base in the Indian Ocean.
The Chinese Communist Party would be the principal beneficiary of such a betrayal, and probably ultimately the inheritors of that base, as they were Afghanistan’s Bagram.
The President has rightly called Starmer’s sellout on Diego Garcia an “act of great stupidity.” Eighty top U.S. and U.K. military, political and academic leaders — myself included — have endorsed that assessment as part an urgent public statement calling for the British government to abandon its efforts to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands — including Diego Garcia — to the pro-CCP African nation of Mauritius.
President Trump has blocked the deal for now. But he must now inform Starmer that the United States formally rejects the deal and will take ownership of the island if they relinquish it.
This CPDC webinar examines the critical strategic importance of Diego Garcia; the implications of its loss for U.S. power projection; the prospects that — if the UK-Mauritius deal is approved — American security, including its nuclear deterrent posture, would be adversely affected; and the likelihood that the end-result will be the Chinese Communist Party will pull off a Bagram 2.0.
Moderator:
Frank Gaffney, president, Institute for the American Future; vice chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China; member, Victory Coalition; host, “Securing America”
Panelists:
J.R. Nyquist, internationally recognized strategic analyst; blogger at JRNyquist.blog; author, The Origins of the Fourth World War.
Charles “Sam” Faddis, Esq., Former career CIA undercover operative; Army veteran; editor, AND Magazine; author, Beyond Repair: The Decline and Fall of the CIA
Rod D. Martin, Founder & CEO, Martin Capital, Inc. and The Rod Martin Report; Founder & Chairman, Institute for the American Future
Robert Midgley, Communications Advisor to Four British Prime Ministers, Spokesman for Friends of the British Overseas Territories
Cleo Paskal, Senior Non-resident Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; internationally recognized expert on the strategic significance of Indo-Pacific waters and their islands
Col. Grant Newsham, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), former foreign service officer; longtime businessman in East Asia; author, When China Attacks: A Warning to America; senior fellow, Center for Security Policy
