U.S. Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle told Fox News that foreign nationals, especially Chinese nationals, are attempting to breach U.S. Navy bases two to three times every week.
According to a top U.S. admiral who spoke with reporters over the weekend, the U.S. Navy’s base security officers are apprehending and expelling a growing number of foreign nationals, especially Chinese nationals, who are trying to obtain secrets related to national security. Although many of them possess valid documentation permitting their visits to the country as tourists or students, their presence on a military post is unapproved and, in many situations, might be illegal.
U.S. Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle told Fox and Friends, “Usually the cover story is ‘I’m a student, I’m an enthusiast I want to see the ships,’ that type of thing”. “We have to turn them around, and typically we will get the [Naval Criminal Investigative Service] involved. We will get biometrics if possible.”
A recent arrest of two Chinese-born U.S. Navy service members on espionage charges follows several Chinese tourists being detained for entering or spying on U.S. naval stations. According to Caudle, the increasingly subtle, frequent, and low-effort Chinese attempts at naval base espionage have been accelerating.
“This thing of our military bases getting penetrated by foreign nationals is happening more and more. . . . It’s really hard for us to tell the underlying motive in these types of cases,” Caudle told Fox News. “This is something we see probably two or three times a week, where we’re stopping these folks at the gate, and this is just the Navy alone.”
These people, at the very least, are Chinese nationals who tried to enter a military base after entering the country illegally. An undocumented Chinese immigrant was detained and turned over to Border Patrol officials in March at the 29 Palms Marine Corps Base. The largest base in the Marine Corps, 29 Palms is the site of major multi-unit drills.
“Despite being prompted to exit at the Condor gate by installation security, the individual proceeded onto the installation without authorization,” a Marine Corps spokesman told Marine Corps Times. “Military law enforcement were immediately notified and detained the individual.”
Caudle noted that suspicious drone overflights are becoming a bigger issue and that the Navy is attempting to strengthen its capacity to identify and counter this new possible threat.
“Generally it’s just folks with drones – you can buy them commercially from Amazon or whoever it may be,” he stated. “But it’s hard to differentiate that from a nation-state that’s attempting to do espionage.”
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that, according to an indictment, a federal grand jury in San Francisco arrested Linwei Ding, a Chinese national and Google engineer, for stealing AI secrets for China.
