Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced criminal charges against an illegal immigrant from China accused of photographing sensitive military infrastructure near Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.
A criminal complaint has been filed against Qilin Wu, a Chinese national who illegally entered the U.S. during the Biden administration, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri. Wu is charged with unlawfully photographing the military installation and military equipment without authorization.
The complaint follows a November 2025 investigation by the Daily Caller News Foundation that revealed Whiteman Air Force Base — one of the U.S. Air Force’s most critical installations — shares a perimeter fence with a foreign-owned trailer park linked to a convicted fraudster with ties to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence.
The investigation began on Dec. 2, 2025, when officials at Whiteman Air Force Base alerted the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) to a suspicious minivan parked near the base’s perimeter, according to the complaint. The vehicle was observed in close proximity to the installation that houses the B-2 Spirit aircraft.
Air Force security patrols were dispatched to the area and encountered Wu, who allegedly told officers he was there to observe the B-2 aircraft. Patrolmen informed him that photography and video recording of the base were prohibited.
The following day, AFOSI was notified that the same minivan had been spotted along the perimeter fence of the base. Agents responded and made contact with Wu, who admitted to recording videos of the B-2 aircraft and taking multiple photographs of the base’s perimeter fencing, a gate, and military equipment, the complaint states.
Wu also admitted that he had photographed another U.S. Air Force base and its aircraft, according to the complaint.
Federal authorities state that Wu is a Chinese national who illegally entered the U.S. near Nogales, Arizona, on June 22, 2023. He was arrested by immigration officials at the time for unlawful presence, but was later released due to limited detention capacity, according to the complaint.
Wu was scheduled to appear for immigration removal proceedings in February 2027, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) re-arrested him on Dec. 3, 2025, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The charges come amid heightened scrutiny surrounding Whiteman Air Force Base, which launched the B-2 Spirit strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025.
The base shares a perimeter fence with the Knob Noster Trailer Park, a foreign-owned RV park located less than a mile from Whiteman’s runway, the November 2025 DCNF investigation found.
Business records reviewed by the DCNF show the trailer park is owned through a network of shell companies controlled by a Canadian couple linked to organizations associated with disgraced Chinese tycoon Miles Guo. Guo, who has described himself as a former CCP intelligence “affiliate,” was convicted in 2024 of orchestrating a more than $1 billion fraud conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.
National security experts told the DCNF at the time that foreign ownership of property immediately adjacent to the base poses serious counterintelligence risks.
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