House committee urges Fairfax County to stop using Chinese-made drones

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Members of the House of Representatives are asking Fairfax County to stop buying Chinese-made drones.

Fairfax County has 36 drones that are used by the police, fire and rescue, emergency management and security, and cable and consumer services departments. These departments use them for search-and-rescue operations, fire scene management to assess fire damage and hotspots traffic, crash and highway management and to obtain footage for county television programs and videos, according to the county.

But 29 of those drones are the Chinese-made DJI drones, and the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party says these drones could potentially pose national security risks.

“DJI is on multiple federal government lists for its potential to spy on U.S. soil, its deep ties to the Chinese military, and its work to equip the CCP’s genocide against the Uyghur people,” wrote the committee in a press release.

Because of Fairfax County’s unique location, many government leaders live there and many sensitive national security sites are there, such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Committee chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) wrote a letter to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors asking the county to stop procuring drones, also known as unmanned aerial systems (UAS), that were made in China (PRC) in future.

“The PRC-made UAS platforms and censors currently used by Fairfax County collect high-resolution imagery of facilities and individuals at risk, putting them at risk of being collected by the CCP,” Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi wrote in the letter.

But Fairfax County government told WUSA9 that it has established strict guidelines and safeguards to make sure that all drones comply with security protocols and privacy protections, regardless of where they are manufactured.

“There is robust oversight of the UAS program and the county’s UAS Program Manual is regularly updated to stay aligned with technological advancements,” the county said.

In the letter, the two committee members also asked Fairfax County to help other counties and Virginia as a whole to adopt a policy on purchasing drones that aligns with the Virginia Public Procurement Act, a law that ensures that governments in the commonwealth don’t favor any political party or entity when procuring items from nongovernment organizations. They also would like this to align with the federal government’s framework on the national security risk of Chinese-made drones.

The county said it does not have a formal response to the letter, but said it is committed to ensuring compliance with the Virginia Public Procurement Act, as well as its own Purchasing Resolution, which it said regulates technology bought by the county and is consistent with federal law. It did not say it would be changing its use of drones due to the letter, because it said, "our policies and standards are reviewed regularly to ensure that we remain in compliance with changes in state and federal law and regulations."

Drones made in China are more accessible to local governments because Chinese subsidies make them cheaper than those made in the U.S., Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi wrote in the letter. Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi wrote that the federal government has the responsibility to make it easier for local governments to procure more secure drones.