Senators want US construction firms to detail use of DJI drones in government contracts

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Two U.S senators on Thursday asked several U.S. construction companies to detail the use of Chinese-made DJI drones in government contracts and at sensitive national security facilities, saying the issue raised national security concerns.

Democratic senators Maggie Hassan and Gary Peters in letters to Hensel Phelps, Brasfield & Gorrie, and the Bechtel Corporation for answers on the companies’ relationships with DJI, citing reports about DJI drone use.

“The U.S. government considers the use of Chinese-made drones generally — and DJI drones specifically — a threat to national security and prohibits their use by federal agencies or contractors,” the letters said. “The use of these types of drones at sensitive and secure facilities creates the potential to provide a pathway for the transfer of important national security-related information to the Chinese government.”

The companies and DJI did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

The letters noted construction companies routinely use drones at work sites for a number of reasons.

DJI sells more than half of U.S. commercial drones. In September, a U.S. judge rejected a bid by DJI, to be removed from the U.S. Defense Department’s list of companies allegedly working with Beijing’s military. The company faces further restriction as soon as later this month from the Federal Communications Commission.

The senators said earlier this year in a report the General Services Administration Office of the Inspector General found multiple cases of construction contractors using prohibited DJI drones, including a major contractor that frequently used a DJI drone to take aerial photographs to document construction at an Arizona port of entry.

The senators want the CEOs of the three companies to disclose by Jan. 15 how many DJI drones they own, whether they have received waivers for use of the drones at government facilities and details on drone data.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)