The Chinese flag flies behind a surveillance camera (Reuters)

Police and other emergency services in Fairfax County, Va.—home to government leaders and major national security installations—are deploying drones made by a sanctioned Chinese company across the community, potentially allowing Beijing to spy on sensitive sites, a bipartisan pair of lawmakers warned.

Fairfax authorities, including the police and fire departments, are using drones manufactured by DJI, a Chinese firm that controls around 80 percent of the U.S. commercial drone market and that the American government deems a spy risk, according to an investigation by the House Select Committee on China. The federal government sanctioned DJI in 2021 for its surveillance partnership with the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang, where an estimated one million Uyghurs are held in detention camps and subject to forced labor.

CCP-produced unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and sensors used by Fairfax County collect "high-resolution imagery of facilities," the committee noted. The county’s reliance on DJI’s drones leaves this sensitive data "at risk of being collected by the CCP," according to the committee’s two top lawmakers, Reps. John Moolenaar (R., Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.). 

In a Thursday letter to Jeffrey McKay, chair of the Fairfax supervisory board, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi pressed McKay to decommission their fleet of DJI drones, citing "the large amount of sensitive national security sites and interests in Fairfax County," according to a copy of their letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

While the federal government has sought to eliminate DJI and other Chinese firms from its supply chain, cities across the nation still use them for emergency services. At least seven states have grounded their fleets of Chinese-produced drones and banned their purchase. But Fairfax County is still actively using them, potentially giving China a backdoor into these systems.

Chinese companies are required under Beijing’s strict national security laws to provide "mandatory access to devices and programs through backdoors, also known as ‘embedded and reserved interfaces.’" This means that China can access the data being streamed through drones across America, including the northern Virginia enclave of Fairfax.

"We understand Fairfax County currently operates a mixed fleet, and public safety programs, emergency services, and the fire department all utilize UAS platforms to carry out their respective missions," according to Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi, who have been working to crackdown on DJI products as part of their work on the House China committee.

The Fairfax Board of Supervisors first approved the county’s drone program in 2019 and procured DJI products to assist with search and rescue operations, flooding assessments, disaster relief, and hazardous material collection, among other operations.

Since that time, Fairfax has been made "aware of the national security risks associated with deploying PRC drones" but is just beginning "to raise awareness of supply chain and data security risks" associated with Chinese drone products, according to the lawmakers.

Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi say immediate action is necessary to stop China from spying on the many national security sites, military installations, and government homes located through Fairfax.

DJI drones, they write, must be "excluded from procurement and partner programs in the future" to ensure China is not handed free access to sensitive data.

China heavily subsidizes its drone market, making it an attractive product for cash-strapped American cities. Alternative products produced in the United States are often much more expensive than their Chinese counterparts.

DJI is also "looking for ways to sidestep regulatory and competitive pressures through a strategy known as ‘white-labeling,’" according to the lawmakers. 

As part of this process, DJI allows other companies to license its products, making it harder to trace them back to Beijing. 

One such arrangement permits Anzu Robotics, a Texas-based company, "to market and sell these drones under its brand name in the U.S. market," according to the China committee. "Although the drones will be sold under a different name, they are essentially DJI products."

This scheme "may allow DJI to maintain a presence in markets where there are restrictions or hesitation about their products, under the guise of a different brand," the lawmakers say. "We cannot continue to allow unfair CCP market practices to pressure our state and local governments and put them at risk."

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