A high-ranking US Navy official has warned that China and Russia have intensified attempts to infiltrate American military bases, potentially jeopardizing national security.
US Fleet Forces Commander Daryl Caudle recently told Fox News that infiltration attempts by these near-peer adversaries are happening at least twice a week at navy bases alone.
He said that although these infiltrators have passports and other documents to justify their stay in the US, they are too suspicious to be granted authorization in military bases.
“Usually, the cover story is ‘I am a student,’ ‘I am an enthusiast,’ ‘I want to see the ships,’ that type of thing… We have to turn them around and … get biometrics,” Caudle said, adding that it is difficult to tell the underlying motive of these suspected infiltrators.
‘Happening More and More’
Infiltrations by China and Russia into military facilities have been a recurring problem for the US military.
Caudle said that in 2023, more than 100 attempts were recorded from Chinese nationals alone.
Perpetrators often claim that they are innocent tourists when caught.
For example, the US Defense Department announced last year that Chinese nationals were caught scuba diving close to a rocket launch site in Florida.
Some were also detected crossing into a US missile range in New Mexico.
“This thing of our military bases getting penetrated by foreign nationals is happening more and more,” Caudle stressed. “This is Russian, it’s Chinese… It comes from all these different nations.”
Increase in Chinese Migrants
Caudle’s warning comes amid an 8,000-percent increase in the number of Chinese migrants to the US in the last three years.
From 342 in 2021, American border patrols have reported 24,125 encounters with Chinese nationals this year.
“It should be extremely alarming to everyone, regardless of party, when record numbers of individuals from an adversarial nation flood into our country without vetting or oversight,” said Dan Bishop, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability.