Are the United States and China on the brink of the cold war? Many believe so. Many others would not agree with this speculation and their response centers around the move by the Biden administration to buy surveillance equipment from the Asian communist nation.
It is common knowledge that the Senate Homeland Security Committee had, last year, pushed forward the American Security Drone Act. Prohibiting federal departments and agencies from procuring devices like drones from nations that are thought to be national security threats was what the bill called for then.
It was even suggested, during that time, that a step to ban the federal acquisition of drones from nations like China to strengthen our supply chains and better protect the US’s national security was needed. Though Congress was expected to bring in a similar ban, the House and Senate decided against it in February.
A Newsweek column by John Mac Ghlionn quoted researcher John Venable and Lora Ries, saying that “by removing the bipartisan limit on drone purchases, elected officials successfully thwarted their own best intentions.”
What is acquiring space in headlines is information that the Biden administration has bought surveillance drones from DJI, which incidentally is a Chinese firm feared to have aspects that could be threats to national security. The Pentagon very well knows that the Chinese Communist Party deploys drones-aided technology to spy on its citizens and people in other countries.
Astounding is the fact that the US under Joe Biden, which had lashed out at the Chinese Communist Party alleging a cyberattack on Microsoft, purchased as many as eight drones from DJI. Taking matters even more ahead, the FBI purchased 19 drones.
The article pointed out that Senator Marco Rubio had stated, “there is absolutely no excuse for any government agency to use DJI drones or any other drones manufactured in countries identified as national security threats.” DJI, in the meanwhile, has categorically denied talk of the company sharing information to Chinese authorities, terming such false.
It is said that close to 80 percent of all commercial drones sold in the United States come from China. This could also mean that the US’s dependence on China could be more than just the surveillance technology domain.
The general opinion, in the meantime, is that the Biden administration should desist itself from purchasing drones from Chinese firms so that the interest of the nation is held aloft.
