Chinese students charged with lying on midnight trip to Michigan military site

It could just be clueless tourists, after all. Tourists are known for their mishaps worldwide, and trust me—I know from experience, coming from the Antipodes, where we’re practically famous for our traveling shenanigans. I mean, look at that group of Australian YouTubers who tried sneaking into Pine Gap about a year ago. Maybe it’s all just for insta-fame or some weird flex.

But then again, what if it’s something more? What intrigues me is how these “leaf actors,” if they exist, are separated from the rest of the hierarchy. How are commands passed down to them? What’s the structure of this informal, scattered organization? And honestly, do they have a secret handshake?

Was he assured nobody would fact check?

Why do they travel with photos stored on physical devices/phone instead to simply “email” them home?

Or even better not taking photographs of army vehicles on a remote military base past midnight, with the excuse of doing astronomy.

A dumb spy is still a spy, and those aren't the stars that astronomers normally look for.