Drones flew over caves and crevices scattered along northern Utah’s mountain trails, transmitting real-time video to a ground search team searching for a missing hiker. Nineteen minutes later, they had his coordinates, bringing the rescue – an exercise – closer to conclusion.
“In this kind of environment, it’s actually pretty quick,” said Kyle Nordfors, a volunteer search and rescue worker. He was flying one of the drones, made by Chinese company DJI, which dominates sales to law enforcement as well as the hobbyist market in the United States.
But while DJI drones are the tool of choice for first responders across the country, they are widely seen in Washington as a threat to national security.
DJI is on a Department of Defense list of Chinese military companies whose products will be banned from the U.S. armed forces in the future. As part of the defense budget passed by Congress this year, other federal agencies and programs will likely also be barred from purchasing DJI drones.
The Treasury and Commerce departments penalized DJI for using its drones to spy on Uyghur Muslims detained in camps by Chinese officials in the Xinjiang region. Researchers found that Beijing could potentially exploit vulnerabilities in an app controlling the drone to access large amounts of personal information, although a US official said there are currently no known vulnerabilities that do not has not been corrected.
Congress is currently considering legislation that could kill much of DJI’s business in the United States by listing it with the Federal Communications Commission, preventing it from operating on the country’s communications infrastructure.
The bill, which has bipartisan support, was the subject of a heavy-handed lobbying campaign by DJI. The company hopes that Americans like Mr. Nordfors who use its products will help convince lawmakers that the United States has nothing to fear — and has much to gain — by flying DJI drones.
But the influence campaign faces a skeptical public.
“DJI poses an unacceptable risk to national security, and it is long past time that drones manufactured by Communist China be removed from America,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York and a lead sponsor of the bill, in an emailed statement this month.
Government agencies showed that DJI drones provided the Chinese Communist Party with data on “critical infrastructure” in the United States, Ms. Stefanik said, without elaborating. “Any attempt to claim otherwise is a direct result of DJI’s lobbying efforts.”
The bill to effectively immobilize DJI drones, known as the CCP Counter-Drone Act, was unanimously passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on last month. The legislation could come up for a vote in the House in a month or two, said a lobbyist and a China expert who had been briefed on the plans, as part of what they described as a ” China Week” planned during which a number of restrictions on the country’s business activities in the United States could be considered.
The bill is also expected to find support in the Senate, which has introduced various restrictions on Chinese-made drones in recent years.
In the midst of the 2024 election campaign, both parties are eager to show they are tough on China. The Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would force ByteDance, the Chinese owner of the popular social network TikTok, to sell the app within a year or cease operations in the United States. President Biden signed it on Wednesday.
Like TikTok, DJI drones are very popular in the United States. David Benowitz, a former DJI employee who works for U.S. drone maker BRINC, estimates that DJI drones accounted for 58% of the commercial market in 2022. There is no accurate, recent data on DJI’s popularity with the forces. of order, but Bard College Study from 2020 which relied on FAA records, pegged the company’s share at 90 percent.
DJI’s lobbying efforts have drawn support from users who fear a ban on the company’s drones would be disruptive and costly, especially since U.S. suppliers have not proven they can compete on terms. cost or quality.
“Beyond the national security risks these drones pose, we need a robust and competitive U.S. drone industry,” Rep. John Moolenaar, Republican of Michigan and chairman of the U.S. Drone Committee, said in a statement. Chamber on US-China Competition.
DJI spent $1.6 million on lobbying last year, according to Open Secrets, which follows money in politics. The company has spent at least $310,000 so far this year, according to its Senate lobbying disclosures. Part of those dollars helped set up meetings with lawmakers for first responders who use DJI drones.
The company also funded a website called Drone Advocacy Alliance, according to Vic Moss and Chris Fink, two drone users who run the site. Its goal is in part to raise awareness of the CCP’s anti-drone law and includes a template for contacting lawmakers directly.
“Our products are designed and intended to promote the general good and benefit society,” DJI spokesperson Regina Lin said in a statement. She denied the drones were involved in human rights abuses and said they were not intended for surveillance.
DJI recently opened a showroom on a prime stretch of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to display its drones, which cost between $279 and at least $9,000 and are used for a wide variety of purposes, including photography, videography amateur and professional and architecture.
“Some of my friends and I used them to measure the land and get the dimensions of buildings,” said Paolo Dallapozza, an Italian architect who recently visited the store.
Amidst the rumblings that China hawks in Congress Although lobbyists representing Chinese companies with military ties and their other clients are blacklisted, at least two companies representing DJI – the Vogel Group and Avoq – severed ties with DJI in February, according to lobbying disclosures in Senate. DJI has quickly hired new officials, according to Senate filings, including Liberty Government Affairs, which is run by a former senior aide to Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who has been hostile to efforts to rein in TikTok.
DJI’s lawyers complained to the Pentagon on its inclusion on the list of Chinese military companies. DJI has sought, so far unsuccessfully, to have it removed. The lawyers noted, among other things, that DJI’s stake in state-owned companies in China – including several banks, a state-owned insurance company and two municipal funds – represents less than 6% of the company’s capital.
“DJI’s ownership is primarily concentrated in the hands of its founders and early executives, none of whom are government officials or representatives of any government or public entities,” said Loretta Lynch, former prosecutor general of President Barack Obama, now a lawyer. partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, wrote in a letter to the Department of Defense in July.
The Pentagon, however, remains undefeated.
As China “attempts to blur the lines between the civilian and military sectors, ‘knowing your customer’ is essential,” said Defense Department spokesman Jeff Jurgensen.
“American companies must be vigilant and not contribute to the PRC’s military programs,” he added, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Strategic discussions among DJI lobbyists have taken on a panicked tone in recent weeks, according to a company representative who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential details. Users like Mr. Fink — a former 911 dispatcher who runs a drone store in Fayetteville, Ark., that sells a variety of makes and models, including some from DJI — have tried to intervene.
Mr Fink said he was focused less on where the drone was built and more on ensuring consumers had a choice of quality products. “I think we just need more competitive offerings that provide a consistent, reliable, secure and easy-to-use system,” he said.
Michael Lighthiser manages a large fleet of drones, many produced by DJI, for George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He met virtually with state officials, including Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine’s staff, to oppose proposed restrictions on the use of DJI drones. But recognizing the political reality, Mr. Lighthiser said he also recently purchased a fixed-wing vertical takeoff drone from Event 38 Unmanned Systems, a manufacturer based in Richfield, Ohio.
The Event 38 drone costs a little more than the DJI version, Mr. Lighthiser said, but “I don’t want to buy a product made in China that could be retired in a month.”
Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting from Washington.