Letter to Katharine T Sullivan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of Office of Justice Programs and Christopher Krebs, Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency - Steube Urges U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice to Investigate Use of Chinese Drones in the U.S.

Letter

We respectfully write to request information about state and local law enforcement 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. In response to the coronavirus epidemic, DJI has donated drones to state and local law enforcement entities in the United States to purportedly assist with social distancing enforcement. Although federal law enforcement agencies have warned of potential information security concerns with DJI drones, it is not clear whether state and local law enforcement agencies are fully aware of these issues.

In 2017, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)--the investigative component of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement--issued an alert warning that DJI drones are "[l]ikely
providing U.S. critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to [the] Chinese government."
That alert "assesse[d] with high confidence [DJI] is selectively targeting government and
privately owned entities within [infrastructure and law enforcement sectors] to expand its ability
to collect and exploit sensitive U.S. data." In May 2019, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency (CISA) within the Department of Homeland Security issued a similar warning
that Chinese-made drones pose a "potential risk of an organization's information."

In response to these growing concerns, several federal departments and agencies have
banned or ceased to operate DJI drones. The Army banned their purchase and use in 2017.
In January 2020, following a review of its drone fleet, the Interior Department temporarily retired
non-emergency drones. According to Secretary Bernhardt's order, "information collected during
UAS missions has the potential to be valuable to foreign entities, organizations, and
governments." The Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act banned the purchase
and use of Chinese-made drones across the U.S. military.

In November 2019, the Justice Department updated its internal drone policy as a result of
increasing cybersecurity and privacy concerns. The Department required its component
agencies "to evaluate UAS acquisitions for cybersecurity risks, guarding against potential threats
to the supply chain and [the Department's] networks." The policy described how it "can serve
as a model for our state, local, tribal, and territorial public safety partners as they develop their
own UAS programs and best practices."

On April 1, 2020, DJI announced that it had donated 100 drones to "45 police, fire and
public safety organizations in 22 states" under the potential guise of helping with the problems
caused by the coronavirus pandemic. For instance, in Florida, DJI donated at least two drones
to the Daytona Beach Police Department that have already been dispatched to monitor
Americans in public spaces.

To help us better understand the prevalence of DJI drones used by state, local, territorial,
and tribal law-enforcement agencies, we respectfully request the following information:

1. A list of all state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies receiving federal
grant funding to purchase or operate DJI drones covering the period from January 1,
2017, to the present;

2. Please explain what policies and procedures grant recipients must have in place to receive
federal support to purchase or operate DJI drones, including any restrictions and
exemptions that apply;

3. Please explain whether any concerns about DJI drones have arisen during Departmentwide UAS working group activities since January 1, 2017; and

4. Please explain whether the Department is monitoring DJI's recent provision of drones to
state and local law enforcement agencies during the coronavirus pandemic and what
actions, if any, the Department is taking in response.

We request that you provide this information as soon as possible but no later than 5:00
p.m. on May 27, 2020.

If you have questions regarding this request, please ask your staff to contact Committee
staff at (202) 225-6906. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Steve Chabot, Louie Gohmert, Doug Collins, Ken Buck, Mike Johnson, Andy Biggs, Tom McClintock, Debbie Lesko, Guy Reschenthaler, Ben Cline, and W. Gregory Steube

Source