A Chinese college student has been arrested after federal authorities discovered that he had illegally photographed U.S. military planes near Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, an incident that prompted concerns from Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen about national security.

Liang Tianrui, 21, was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on April 7 while attempting to leave the United States, after a judge in Nebraska issued a warrant four days earlier, according to a court document filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He is now being charged with one count of photographing or sketching defense installations without authorization.

“I want to thank and praise the security forces at Offutt Air Force Base and the FBI special agents in Omaha for their work on this case,” Ricketts, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on X on April 21.

Offutt Air Force Base, located south of Omaha, is home to the U.S. Strategic Command. The air base hosts a variety of aircraft, including the RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance plane and E-4B, a militarized version of the Boeing 747-200 that serves as the National Airborne Operations Center.

According to an FBI affidavit included in the court document, Liang, a student at Glasgow University in Scotland, flew to Vancouver, Canada, on March 26 and met a friend, who was a student at Columbia University in New York.

The pair entered the United States by car on March 28. Afterward, Liang drove alone to visit Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, according to the FBI affidavit. Liang entered the United States on a valid B-1/B-2 visitor visa.

On March 31, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations was alerted after a witness reported seeing “a male holding a camera with a telescopic lens” at a public road bordering Offutt Air Force Base’s fenced perimeter, according to the affidavit. The male was subsequently identified by investigators arriving at the scene as Liang.

The FBI said Liang admitted to photographing several planes at Offutt Air Force Base, “including the RC-135 and the E-4B,” and acknowledged that he knew photographing aircraft on the ground was illegal.

Investigators said a search of his Canon camera revealed “numerous photographs of planes located on the OAFB [Offutt Air Force Base] flightline,” according to the FBI affidavit.

Liang told investigators that he used a website called “planespotter” to identify legal locations for photographing planes, and the photos were “only for his personal collection,” according to the FBI affidavit.

At the time, Liang was also carrying a drone made by Chinese drone manufacturer DJI, the FBI said, adding that he “did not fly it at OAFB.”

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has barred new DJI drone models and key components from approval in the United States over national security concerns.

The FBI noted that Liang had planned to drive to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma after taking photos at Offutt Air Force Base, before returning to Scotland via a flight from New York on April 13.

At the time of his arrest, Liang had a one-way ticket from New York to Glasgow, Scotland, with a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, according to the FBI affidavit.

The Epoch Times contacted Liang’s lawyer for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

In response to an email inquiry from The Epoch Times on April 22, Offutt Air Force Base said it is “fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities.”

“To clarify, the individual in question did not gain access to Offutt Air Force Base,” it added.

Ricketts said Offutt Air Force Base “is one of the most sensitive military installations in the country.”

“The threat of Communist China’s spying efforts on sensitive American military sites is real and persistent. I’ve made fighting against it my priority with bills like the AFIDA Improvements Act and the PLOT Act. These make sure foreign adversaries can’t own American agricultural land,” Ricketts wrote on X.

To combat threats posed by China’s ownership of U.S. farmlands, Ricketts introduced the Property Location Oversight and Transparency (PLOT) Act in March to strengthen the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s foreign land ownership reporting system.

Ricketts introduced the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvements Act in June 2025 to codify oversight on foreign ownership of U.S. farmland.

“I am glad that justice is being served. I will continue the fight to protect Nebraska servicemembers and America’s security,” Ricketts said in a separate X post.

Also on April 21, Pillen said the case was illustrative of the threats posed by Beijing, according to an X post.

“The behind-the-scenes battle over intelligence gathering is real and the tentacles of Chinese Communist Party spy apparatus poses a real threat to our country—even hitting close to home, targeting our military servicemen and women stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue,” Pillen said.

“My administration continues to take targeted, decisive action to protect the state of Nebraska and our people from threats posed by foreign adversaries.”

There have been other cases involving Chinese students taking pictures at U.S. military sites.

In 2019, a Chinese exchange student named Zhao Qianli was sentenced to a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to photographing defense installations at the U.S. Naval Air Station Key West in Florida.