Suspected Chinese spies disguised as tourists have repeatedly attempted to enter US military bases in Alaska in recent years, service members say.
Chinese nationals were detained trying to gain access to bases comparable to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, where soldiers once searched a vehicle that flew past a checkpoint and located a drone, according to army who spoke to USA Today.
Many foreigners said they got lost driving around and taking in the views of the Last Frontier, where america stores sensitive military capabilities at the purpose closest to adversaries Russia, North Korea and China.
“We take the security of our people at our installations very seriously,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks recently said when asked about China’s espionage during a recent visit to the country.
![Soldiers in Alaska](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012109329.jpg?w=1024)
![Northern lights](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000010261859.jpg?w=1024)
“We all the time live with the potential for intrusion into our installations, so we work very hard to ensure, working with state and native authorities and others, that these bases and installations are protected against threats,” she added. “We’re taking a variety of steps to do this. And we’ll be certain that that we are able to proceed to protect our installation in order that our people can perform their missions.”
The news comes at a time of heightened tension between the Pacific powers as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s aggression against Taiwan and ambitions in the South China Sea have cooled relations.
Retired Air Force General David Deptula told USA Today that intrusions by alleged spies may lead to monitoring of US military communications with sensors left hidden at bases including Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage and Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks.
![Mount McKinley](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012109332.jpg?w=1024)
In February, a Chinese spy balloon also flew across america and gathered intelligence from several military facilities after it first entered US airspace over Alaska.
F-22 and F-35 fighters are maintained, as are 12,000 troops and 10,000 Air Force personnel on lively duty, in addition to radar and missile defense systems to respond to nuclear attacks.
1000’s more troops and aircraft from Britain and Australia participated in the annual joint war games to prepare for potential conflict with Russia or China.
![Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000009869742.jpg?w=1024)
Iris Ferguson, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and global resilience, said in September that officials in Beijing were “trying to enter the Arctic.”
“So we’re very careful about their activities and we would like to make sure that our interests in the region are protected,” she told the Pentagon’s internal news agency.
On Friday, Senator Dan Sulivan (R-Alaska) called the report “one other wake-up call that we’re in a latest era of authoritarian aggression led by dictators in China and Russia. It is also one other example of how vital Alaska is to America’s national defense.”
![FBI Director Christopher Wray](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012107674.jpg?w=1024)
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Chinese espionage activities are on the rise, with a case often being opened in the office every 12 hours.
“There isn’t a doubt that the best long-term threat to our nation’s ideas, our economic security, and our national security is that posed by the Chinese communist government,” he said in an April speech.