April 25th, 2023
by Henry Rodgers
Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher introduced legislation Tuesday that would prohibit a large portion of Chinese drones from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure.
The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the legislation, entitled the Countering CCP Drones Act. The bill would specifically add the Chinese drone company Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Covered List, so that DJI technologies would be banned from operating in the U.S., as over 50% of drones sold in the U.S. are made by the Chinese-based company DJI.
DJI received its Chinese government funding while claiming Beijing had not invested in the company, The Washington Post reported after conducting a review. Both Stefanik and Gallagher called the drones a “national security threat” and said they should not be operating on U.S. soil.
“DJI drones pose the national security threat of TikTok, but with wings. The possibility that DJI drones could be equipped to send live imagery of military installations, critical infrastructure, and the personal lives of American citizens to China poses too great a threat. Allowing this practice to continue in the U.S. is playing with fire. This Chinese-controlled company cannot be allowed to continue to operate in the U.S,” Stefanik told the Caller before introducing the bill. (RELATED: China’s Supersonic Spy Drone Unit May Be Fully Operational, Leaked Docs Show)
“DJI drones pose a serious national security threat and belong nowhere near the federal government. The Department of Defense has recognized this and acted accordingly, and now it’s time for Congress and the rest of federal government to follow suit. Legislation like my American Security Drone Act helps mitigate the DJI threat by preventing the federal government from procuring these drones, and the Countering CCP Drones Act builds on this effort by preventing these devices from benefitting from Federal Communications Commission subsidies and operating on FCC infrastructure,” Gallagher told the Caller.
“Given DJI’s ties to the CCP and their military, as well as its complicity in the CCP’s ongoing genocide, it’s long past time for Congress to take this important action,” he added. (RELATED: One US City Is Deploying A Chinese Firm’s Drones To Police Americans Who Are Not Social Distancing)
The U.S. Department of Defense banned Americans from investing in DJI in October 2022 over alleged ties to the Chinese military. DJI insisted it had “never marketed or sold its products for military use in any country.”
See the full article from the Daily Caller here.
