Steube Urges U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice to Investigate Use of Chinese Drones in the U.S.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.) joined U.S. Representatives Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in sending letters to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice requesting information about the use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) produced by Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), a Chinese company that accounts for nearly 80 percent of drone sales in the United States.
“Since the Chinese Communist Party routinely uses technology to invasively monitor their citizens, there is no reason to think that they would not use the same technology to spy on Americans,” Steube said. “We have already seen their true colors with the CCP’s handling of COVID-19, so let’s not give them another means to manipulate America’s safety and security.”
Chinese company DJI donated several drones to United States state and local law enforcement entities to allegedly assist with social distancing enforcement during COVID-19. In 2017, Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) issued a report warning that DJI drones are “likely providing U.S. critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government.”
The letter to the DOJ asks that the DOJ provide a list of all federally funded state, local, territorial and tribal law enforcement entities that have received DJI drones and to address how usage of these drones is being monitored or regulated. Similar requests were made in the letter to the DHS, and they are also asked to clarify if there have been any recent alerts issued to law enforcement entities about the potential risk of DJI drone usage.
