On Monday (Jan. 18), President Trump signed an executive order directing U.S. government agencies to assess any security risks posed by Chinese-made drones and to prioritize their removal.
Trump directed all U.S. agencies to outline the security risks posed by drones made by Chinese companies or other countries considered foreign adversaries, including Russia, Iran and North Korea, to the government agencies’ existing drone fleets.
The Trump Executive Order also directs agencies to outline potential steps that can be taken to mitigate these risks, including, if necessary, discontinuing the use of risky drones by all federal agencies and promptly removing them from federal service.
On Dec. 18, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the blacklisting of dozens of Chinese companies for trade controls due to national security concerns. This includes the world’s largest drone manufacturer, DJI Technology Co.
DJI currently holds more than 70 percent of the market share of consumer and industrial drones.
In January 2020, the U.S. Department of the Interior grounded about 800 Chinese-made drones, but said it would allow them to be used in emergency situations. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt ordered the department to stop buying additional Chinese-made drones in October 2020.
In May 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security America issued an alert about data risk issues with the use of Chinese-made drones. In the DHS alert, entitled “Chinese-Made Unmanned Aircraft Systems,” U.S. officials wanted to alert U.S. companies to “strong concerns about any technology products that could bring U.S. data into the territory of authoritarian countries” that would allow those countries’ intelligence services to These products would allow the intelligence services of those countries to have unrestricted access to data outside of their borders or otherwise misuse access.
William r. Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, has said, “Under Communist law, every Chinese technology company is obligated to provide the Chinese authorities with Chinese Communist authorities with information that they themselves have obtained or that is stored on their networks.” “All Americans should be concerned that their images, biometrics, location and other data stored on the Chinese company’s applications will have to be turned over to the Communist Party’s national security agencies.”
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