Bipartisan Bill Focuses on Drone Manufacturers
Legislation introduced last week by Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) in the House and Rick Scott (R-FL) in the Senate would prohibit the federal government from purchasing drones manufactured in countries identified as national security threats. Lawmakers fear these drones would be a risk to national security.
The American Security Drone Act of 2019, or H.R. 5125, prevents federal agencies from procuring any commercial off-the-shelf drone or covered unmanned aircraft system manufactured or assembled in countries identified as national security threats and provides a timeline to end current use of these drones.
The legislation also prevents federal funds awarded through contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements to state or local governments from being used to purchase drones manufactured or assembled in a country identified as a national security threat.
Finally, the bill requires the Comptroller General to submit a report to Congress detailing the amount of drones and similar unmanned aircraft systems procured by federal departments and agencies from countries identified as national security threats currently.
The legislation has been cosponsored by Reps. Joe Courtney (D-CT), Ted Yoho (R-FL), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Mark Green (R-TN), and Jackie Speier (D-CA) in the House and Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) in the Senate.
“Drones manufactured by foreign adversaries should be nowhere near the federal government,” said Rep. Gallagher in a press release. “Purchasing this equipment from countries like China uses taxpayer dollars to support the Chinese Communist Party’s near-monopoly on this critical market, while also posing a serious national security threat.”
Congressman Norcross continued, “We live in an uncertain world where there are serious threats to our country, our data security and our democracy. We must ensure our military, homeland security officials and other government agencies have the tools needed to defend our nation. his bill ensures that our government is protected against Chinese-developed technologies that pose a risk to data security, undercut American intellectual property and put our national security at risk.”
Drones and similar unmanned aircraft systems are being used increasingly by federal agencies. In March, lawmakers passed a bill allowing the Department of the Interior to use drones to combat wildfires.
