New US bill seeks far broader ban on DJI drone use

As their revered political hero famously phrased it, “there you go again.” A pair of Republican legislators has joined the conga line of officials in Washington striking tough positions against China with another bill seeking to broaden US bans on DJI drones – this one with potentially far-reaching consequences.

The newest legislative offensive against US and world market-leading drone producer DJI came this week in a new bill tabled by hard-right GOP House members Elise Stefanik and Mike Gallagher. As they did so, the duo echoed earlier (and thus far unsupported) claims the company is controlled by and leaks user data to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Their Countering CCP Drones Act reflects the aims of previous bills – both those performatively announced and forgotten, and some actually passed – to widen the blacklisting of DJI drones by US agencies. It proposes amending the 2019 Secure and Trusted Communications…