Intelligence: Chinese Camera Commandos
20th March 2020
American military intelligence agencies are trying to figure out what is behind the recent arrest of ten Chinese who were caught brazenly entering restricted areas to take photographs of secret installations and operations. There may have been others who got in and out and were not caught. Most of those involved appear to be taking advantage of U.S. law, since anyone caught illegally entering a base and taking photos or videos can spend as little as a year in jail if they plead guilty, which a ten year sentence is more likely if they go to trial. The first such incident resulted in a one year sentence but the other eight are facing more scrutiny, even though four of these had diplomatic immunity and were expelled.
The first such Chinese student caught doing this, in late 2018, pled guilty and spent a year in jail for it. He finished that sentence in November 2019. That guilty plea was obtained by dropping several more serious charges. After this there were three more incidents of Chinese students doing the same thing at the same Key West naval base. Meanwhile two Chinese diplomats and their wives were caught after driving boldly though the security gate of a Virginia base. They and their wives had had diplomatic immunity and could only be expelled from the country. In March a Chinese woman was caught after illegally entering a Mar-a-Lago Florida resort owned by the American president and sometimes used for presidential meetings. In September another Chinese woman was caught trying the same thing. One of the Chinese woman was found to have connections with Chinese intelligence.