Imagine if a Chinese of Russian documentary showed up in an area of the US that had recently suffered from instability or disruption - like after the George Floyd rights for example - do you really think that there would be nobody would keep an eye on them; no local government employees, no PR people, no local community groups?

If that Russian/Chinese team interviewed a local cashier, and then someone said something privatly to that cashier, and the the cashier then said 'no further comment', would you immediately frame that in your mind as "A party minder threatening to send them to Guantanamo Bay?" Because that's the same scenario that was described in the AP piece.