According to the
FBI, the U.S. has identified more than 100 documented instances of gate-crashing, including: • At
Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story,
Virginia, two Chinese diplomats and their wives sped through the front gates of the
Navy SEAL base and failed to stop until base officials pulled a firetruck into the road to block their path. All were
expelled from the U.S. on suspicions of espionage in 2019, the first publicly known expulsion of Chinese diplomats from the U.S. since 1986. According to
The New York Times, at least one of the Chinese officials was a known
intelligence officer operating under
diplomatic cover. • At
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in
Hawaii, Chinese nationals purportedly visiting Hawaii for just two days with no registered hotel room were caught by
NCIS using drones and photography equipment to capture images of the base. The incident, which occurred in late 2023, was reportedly the 14th such attempt by Chinese nationals at the base since 2018. • At
Cape Canaveral,
Florida, agents from
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) identified several Chinese nationals who were scuba diving in a murky industrial area within the secure perimeter adjacent to the facility's launch pads. Upon arrest, several trespassers were discovered to have taken specific photos of antennas and other "vital military equipment" on the
Truman Annex and Sigsbee Annex portions of the base. • At Donald Trump's
Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a Chinese woman was found trespassing carrying two passports, four cellphones, a
hidden camera detector, large amounts of cash, and seven flash drives possibly containing
malware. In 2019 she was sentenced to eight months in prison. • At the
White House, staff and
Secret Service officials have reported Chinese nationals leaving the tour area to take pictures of the grounds, particularly communications gear and the positions of security guards. • At
White Sands National Park in
New Mexico, a vast desert surrounded by the
White Sands Missile Range, Chinese visitors have repeatedly been caught crossing from the park into the missile range with cameras. • At
Naval Station Norfolk and
Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, a Chinese national and graduate student at the
University of Minnesota, was indicted for flying drones over sensitive naval facilities including the construction of nuclear submarines. An FBI investigation determined that he had flown from Minnesota to Virginia before travelling to two different naval installations located approximately 45 minutes apart. When questioned by officials, the man abandoned the drone and quickly fled the region. He was convicted of espionage charges and served six months in prison before being deported. • In
Washington state, two Chinese nationals were arrested in July 2025 for performing surveillance of a key Navy base and several recruiting stations. Federal prosecutors said the pair were tasked by China's
Ministry of State Security (MSS) and were observed making
dead drops, transmitting information collected back to China, and discussing plans to
spot, assess and recruit potential agents within the U.S. Navy. == U.S. response ==