Last week a piece of proposed legislation, frequently referred to as the "Countering CCP Drones Act", especially by its proposer – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York's 21st District – cleared its first hurdle in a congress committee.
As every American schoolchild knows, however, it is a bill which becomes an act and Congress doesn't really need to talk about it afterward so, in fact, the proposed legislation – to add Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) to the FCC's Covered List is, at present, just a bill. Moreover, not one that has progressed as far as the house floor for a vote yet either.
What the proposal – H.R. 2864 – seeks to do, if enacted, is effectively prevent DJI products from using "US communications infrastructure" – i.e. anything regulated by the FCC, which, of course, includes the radio controls and indeed other essential tech; even wi-fi.
Commentators like DroneDJ's Bruce Crumley have pointed out that, with this move, the Republican Congresswoman is making the "The most extreme iteration to date of the blacklisting movement that has gained momentum in Washington."
In the past, however, threats like this have fallen by the wayside, and it might happen again. While Stefanik and others seem to want to reduce people's freedom to buy the products they choose, so far they have mostly only managed to restrict the freedom of the American government which is now unable to choose DJI drones, in some cases junked at short notice at the cost of millions to taxpayers.
That's a real worry for potential drone buyers. The Florida drone law grounded $200 million of drones immediately, without money being available to replace them, and many observers would say it was done to promote Ron De Santis's chance of being the next Republican nominee. Internal red-on-red struggles are creating a lot of external attacks on 'red' China.
Viewing the laughably inaccurate, or at least heavily politically slanted evidence given to the committee's hearings is worrying, and enough to make you think the GPS features on any drones you may have are designed so the communist party can take over entire fleets at a moment's notice rather than prevent people flying into airports and occasionally update the locations of airports.
Feeding this information the way it is seems to smack of a desire to create fear, and of course show the politicians as the cure. Unless, of course, those attending the committees are foolhardy enough to believe the statements (band also benefit US-based drone manufacturers). Either way, mistrust has already been established; “This Chinese-controlled company cannot be allowed to continue to operate in the US” Stefanik has said, as well as posting tweets like this:
“DJI presents a catastrophic risk to U.S. national security” – @CraigMSingletonThank you @RepWalberg for supporting my legislation to ban Communist Chinese spy drones from America. pic.twitter.com/pk3n2QXsgmFebruary 17, 2024
Rep. Stefanik may have other reasons for needing to draw political attention at the moment; she began her career as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress but this week, about a decade later, as well as lashing out at DJI she is facing censure for referring to the convicted rioters who stormed the capitol as "hostages" (which, given current political events around the world, hasn't pleased everyone).
So, the short answer is that the threat is definitely there – and will remain so. Drone users should be especially careful who they vote for – it is by no means a single-party problem, but Republicans seem especially risky in the run-up to the election. All of that said, it's probably wiser to just buy the best camera drone regardless of provenance because these committees have restrained Stefanik in the past and may well do so again, especially for consumer use.
Even if DJI is added to the list, I'd be willing to bet China (as a country) would still be quickest to provide replacement consumer products – the Potensic Atom already exists, while American firms like Skydio have back-tracked from the consumer space. Then it'll be back to the committee with a new name to ban!
