(NewsReady.com) – On July 23, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued a statement warning about equipment purchased from Da Jiang Innovations (DJI). Officials deemed the Chinese company’s products a national security threat. Apparently, at least one agency ignored the warning.
Axios obtained Secret Service records dated July 26, three days after the DOD warning, for the purchase of eight DJI drones. The agency completely ignored the national security warning and went ahead with the order anyway.
It seems the Secret Service was perfectly content paying the Chinese company $12,792 to threaten the security of America. What a steal.
The Secret Service wrote its DJI drones will "supplement the agency’s existing fleet of small unmanned aircraft and improved [sic] mission support through the use of the most up-to-date equipment nd [sic] software."https://t.co/4ACQlvEmnX
— Axios (@axios) September 22, 2021
The FBI also purchased equipment from DJI, but the agency did it on July 20, days before the DOD warning. The DOJ paid $59,671 for the potentially dangerous drones.
DJI requires drone operators to download its proprietary software. That means the government agencies are flying drones using Chinese software. What could go wrong? The company insists concerns about national security are unfounded, and because Chinese companies never lie, surely there’s no cause for worry.
During his term, former President Donald Trump’s administration grounded hundreds of Chinese-made drones. Congress also expressed a desire to ban DJI equipment after concerns about national security threats arose. In June 2021, the Associated Press reported many government agencies were already moving away from drones made by the company. Still, a little over a month later, both the FBI and Secret Service decided their purchases were worth the risk.
Copyright 2021, NewsReady.com
