Top member of the House China Select Committee I sent a letter this month He is secretary of the Department of Commerce and head of a newly formed U.S. company with suspected ties to Chinese drone maker DJI.
The letter suggests that Congress is seeking to scale back US oversight of Chinese-made drones and further crack down on companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party amid concerns about threats to national security. The lawmakers also cited a June report by The Hill newspaper about two companies that allegedly have ties to DJI.
The letter, addressed to Randall Warnus, CEO of US-based Anzu Robotics, which has licensed technology from DJI and sold it in the American market, raised concerns about the ties between the two companies.
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the committee's ranking member, said the Anzu Raptor T model is “essentially” a DJI Mavic 3, raising concerns about identical hardware and firmware that is vulnerable to the Chinese supply chain.
“Based on some of your statements, it looks like DJI is using Anzu as a pass-through.
“DJI has pressured the company to circumvent current and anticipated U.S. restrictions on its products,” the lawmakers wrote in their Aug. 20 letter.
The lawmakers added that DJI is on the Commerce Department's blacklist and that this poses a national security risk because the Chinese company maintains close ties to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They pressed Warnas to provide more details about his relationship with DJI.
In a statement to The Hill, Warnas said Anne's “looks forward to working with the committee to address their concerns.”
“We believe there is a fundamental misunderstanding about Anzu Robotics' business operations and compliance with the law,” he said.
The Hill has reached out to Warnus for comment. In a June article, he described his relationship with DJI as hands-off and appropriate, adapting to changing times.
The Hill reported in June that Anzu Robotics and another Hong Kong-based company called Cogito Tech Company Limited were selling what it believed to be DJI clones on Amazon. The Hill was the first major media outlet to report on Cogito Tech.
In separate letters this month, lawmakers pressed Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo about Anzoo Robotics and Cogito Tech, asking the department to provide evidence that their products are DJI drones.
“DJI appears to be using these companies as part of a coordinated effort to thwart current and future restrictions on its business imposed by the United States,” they said in the letter, calling on the Commerce Department to investigate the issue and answer questions about what steps it is taking to thwart the alleged white labeling.
DJI controls around 80% of the global drone market share and makes some of the most widely used drones for commercial and enterprise use, unmatched by any other major drone company.
But growing concerns in Washington that Chinese companies pose a major national security risk have led Congress to move toward further drone restrictions. Earlier this year, President Biden signed a bill banning social media app TikTok unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests it.
The CCP's anti-drone bill, which would further restrict DJI by adding its technology and equipment to a list of targets in U.S. communications infrastructure, was added to the House version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which must be coordinated with the Senate before it can be passed, likely at the end of the year.
The US has also imposed a 25% tariff on Chinese-made drones, and several states have already imposed outright bans on drones from companies like DJI and Autel (another Chinese drone company that the Commerce Department added to its blacklist in July).
DJI affiliates may also be subject to the Anti-China Communist Party Drone Act if they are identified as affiliates by the Federal Communications Commission.
Updated at 5:02 p.m.
