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The widespread adoption of Chinese-made drones in the United States, may be ‘undermining our national security,’ the lawmakers say.
Two House Republicans are calling on the Biden administration to declassify information on national security risks posed by Chinese-manufactured drones.
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chairwoman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), particularly those made by Da Jiang Innovation (DJI) and Autel Robotics, are of particular concern.
The letter was sent to Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Derek Passarelli, principal deputy under secretary at the Department of Energy.
The pair noted that DJI and Autel have control of about 90 percent of the global drone market. The two firms have commercial relationships with thousands of state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies in the United States, they added.
“The widespread adoption of PRC drones by [state, local, tribal, and territorial] law enforcement agencies may inadvertently expose them to cybersecurity risks that are not well understood, while simultaneously undermining our national security,” the letter reads.
“As several federal agencies and departments have taken considerable action based on classified information, it is well past time that Congress, SLTT law enforcement agencies, and the American public receive answers to questions relating to PRC drones that have remained outstanding for several years,” the letter reads.
The two lawmakers asked CISA and the Department of Energy to provide a briefing about their request before July 2.
DJI Drones
The letter detailed a list of actions the U.S. government has taken against DJI drones in recent years. The Department of Army grounded the use of DJI applications and products in August 2017, and the Pentagon banned all procurement of commercial-off-the-shelf DJI drones in May 2018.
China could then use the DJI information to “conduct physical or cyber attacks against the United States and its population,” the warning stated, and it could provide the information to “terrorist organizations, hostile non-state entities, or state-sponsored groups to coordinate attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure.”