Chinese national jailed for filming B-2 base under 1950 Truman order

A Chinese national has been sentenced to six months in federal custody for photographing Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, the only operational home of the US Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber fleet, in a prosecution built on an executive order signed in 1950. 

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) said on August 13, 2026, that Qilin Wu, 35, received the sentence after returning to the installation perimeter a day after security personnel warned him not to photograph it. 

Nineteen B-2s remain of the 21 built, all of them flown from Whiteman by the 509th and 131st Bomb Wings. In June 2025, the type flew Operation Midnight Hammer, delivering 14 Massive Ordnance Penetrators against Iranian nuclear sites. The B-21 Raider is not due to begin replacing it until 2027.

Wu returns a day after being warned 

According to a criminal complaint announced by the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri on January 7, 2026, members of the 509th Security Forces Squadron responded to a report of a suspicious minivan near the Whiteman perimeter on December 2, 2025. Wu, driving a vehicle with Massachusetts plates, said he had come to observe the B-2 Spirit. Patrolmen told him that photography and video recording of the installation were not permitted. 

The following day, the same vehicle was identified at a perimeter fence. AFOSI agents contacted Wu again, and he admitted recording footage of the B-2 and photographing Whiteman perimeter fencing, a gate and military equipment. Investigators counted 18 images and videos on his phone, according to the complaint. 

Guilty plea follows ICE arrest 

US Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers conduct an elephant walk during Exercise Spirit Vigilance 22 at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. (Credit: U.S. Air Force photo)Wu entered the US illegally near Nogales, Arizona, on June 22, 2023, and was released on his own recognizance for lack of detention space, pending removal proceedings scheduled for February 9, 2027, the Justice Department said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) re-arrested him on December 3, 2025. 

He pleaded guilty on April 21, 2026, before US Magistrate Judge Jill A. Morris to a single count of photographing vital military installation and military equipment without authorization. 

A 1950 order still doing work 

The charge rests on Section 795 of Title 18 of the US Code, which covers installations and equipment the president has designated as requiring protection against the general dissemination of information. Executive Order 10104, signed by President Harry Truman in 1950, supplies that designation. The maximum penalty is one year. No espionage or intelligence-related offense was charged. 

AFOSI said Wu admitted photographing aircraft and installations at multiple US bases, including sites in Florida and Virginia. He was remanded to the US Marshals Service, processed on an ICE detainer and will be deported to China. 

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The cases at Whiteman and the Greek Rafale base form part of broader security concerns around military installations. Many other recent incidents have involved unidentified drones, prompting the Pentagon to consider laser-based counter-drone systems for sensitive US sites. The post Chinese national jailed for filming B-2 base under 1950 Truman order appeared first on AeroTime.

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