Canadian citizen charged with unlawful aerial photography of defense installation

ORLANDO, Fla. – A Canadian national has been charged with three counts of using an unmanned aircraft to photograph vital defense installations and equipment without authorization as part of an ongoing multiagency investigation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In a criminal information filing, Xiao Guang Pan, 71, used an unmanned aircraft to photograph vital defense installations and equipment at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Cape Canaveral, Florida. On three separate days in January 2025, Pan took aerial photographs of Space Launch complexes, a payload processing facility, a submarine wharf, and munitions bunkers. Taking unauthorized photographs of vital defense installations or equipment is prohibited under federal law.

A criminal information filing is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law.

Pan faces a maximum faces a maximum penalty of one year in federal prison on each count.

This case is being investigated by ICE Homeland Security Investigations Space Coast, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with valuable assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Air Marshals Service, the NASA Office of Inspector General, and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Varadan.