Qilin Wu, a Chinese national, was ordered not to take photos of B-2 Spirit bombers at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. He did anyway.

A Chinese spy caught by US military police was sentenced to six months in federal prison on espionage charges—in large part because of an executive order signed by President Harry Truman 76 years ago. 

A relic from the Cold War, Truman’s executive order remains relevant in an age of increased great power competition.  

A Life Tip: Don’t Take Photos of Military Bases After Being Told Not To

Air Force prosecutors successfully convicted Qilin Wu, a 35-year-old Chinese national who returned to Whiteman Air Force Base (AFB), Missouri, after he was warned to leave and told not to photograph the air base. He was sentenced to six months in federal prison, followed by deportation.

The Air Force’s espionage case began on December 2, 2025, when military policemen from the 509th Security Forces Squadron found Wu in a white minivan in the proximity of the air base. He claimed that he came to observe B-2 Spirit stealth strategic bombers.

At the time, Wu was warned to leave and not return. However, even after the warning, Wu came back to the proximity of the base and showed a fixed focus on the base’s perimeter and infrastructure. After questioning, Wu admitted to taking photos of the base and of other US military facilities, and was arrested.

“For our Special Agents, this isn’t about a single case,” Air Force Colonel David Bethel, commander of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) Region 8, said in a service media release. “It’s about recognizing that the operating environment has changed.” 

“When someone gathers information around a sensitive military installation, AFOSI has the tools to hold them accountable,” Bethel added. 

“What made this different was the pattern of behavior,” a senior AFOSI official involved in the investigation stated. The Air Force generally does not identify AFOSI personnel for operational security reasons.

Taking Pictures of Military Equipment Is Sometimes Against the Law

Air Force prosecutors relied on US Code Title 18, Section 795, to prosecute Wu. The law states that,“Whenever, in the interests of national defense, the President defines certain vital military and naval installations or equipment as requiring protection against the general dissemination of information relative thereto, it shall be unlawful to make any photograph, sketch, picture, drawing, map, or graphical representation of such vital military and naval installations or equipment without first obtaining permission of the commanding officer.” Breaking the law carries a penalty of up to one year in prison.

The restrictions laid out in the law would certainly encompass Whiteman AFB, home to America’s small fleet of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers—the design features of which remain highly classified. This explains both why the law was in place and why Wu was intent on breaking it, presumably on Beijing’s behalf.

The law itself relies on Executive Order 10104, signed by President Harry Truman on February 1, 1950, which provides a more exact definition of “vital military and naval installations” for the purpose of the language in the text.

Executive orders are not federal law. Instead, they are official directives from the head of government to the executive branch, including federal agencies. They are one of the most common presidential acts, with nearly 13,800 executive orders dating back to the presidency of George Washington. However, they cannot create new statutes or override congressional legislation.

China’s Growing Espionage Threat

In the age of cutting-edge satellite imagery and highly advanced unmanned aerial systems, the need for a human to take pictures of aircraft and installations seems antiquated. Yet intelligence collection is like building a puzzle. Analysts piece together information from different sources to create as complete a picture as possible. Information gathered by humans is often the most reliable source of intelligence.

According to the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) and the FBI, China represents the single most important intelligence threat to US national security. Chinese espionage, in particular, is costing the US (and other Western countries) billions of dollars in intellectual property every year.

Indeed, according to US government estimates, Chinese government or private entities are responsible for stealing between $200 and $600 billion worth of intellectual property from the United States every year—a total well into the trillions of dollars over decades. This theft does not exclusively concern military technology, but also encompasses commercial systems. Beijing’s intelligence efforts are multi-faceted, and include human intelligence and computer network espionage. But, as Wu’s arrest demonstrates, Beijing continues to rely on textbook methods of surveillance as well.

About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou   

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University, an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a JD from Boston College Law School. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP. 

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