States Are Recognizing the Risk of Relying on Chinese-Made Drones
On Wednesday this week, the North Dakota Senate’s Industry and Business Committee held a hearing on HB 1038 – a bill that would fund the replacement of the nearly 90% of drones owned by state agencies that were manufactured in China. Bill sponsor Representative Mike Nathe explained that “[i]n North Dakota, we have drones going over oil fields, missile sites, Air Force bases, our agricultural land, everything … That’s not only a security concern for North Dakota, it’s a security concern for the U.S.” Trevor Woods, the executive director of the Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site, argued to North Dakota lawmakers that “[a] lot of these drones fly because they’re connected to a server in China that are active in real time … We don’t really know exactly what’s being done with that data and how that data is being mined for information.”
Having already passed the state House by a margin of 89 to 4, the bill now faces Senate scrutiny before potential enactment. And while legislators in North Dakota are the latest to grapple with the very real threat that Chinese-made drones pose to privacy and data security, it’s far from the only state that has taken steps to mitigate the risk. Below are some other states that have also shown leadership on ending reliance on Chinese drones.
Arkansas: In 2023, Arkansas lawmakers passed HB 1653 to ban any public entity – such as law enforcement or state agencies – from purchasing or using drones from a “covered foreign entity,” which includes companies domiciled in or under the influence or control of China and Russia. The law allows a four-year phaseout ending May 1, 2027.
Tennessee: Lawmakers in Tennessee passed SB 0776 in 2023 to prohibit state and local agencies as well as law enforcement agencies from purchasing or using drones “produced by a manufacturer banned under Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, as amended,” which includes Chinese manufacturer DJI.
Florida: In April of 2023, Florida administratively banned government agencies and law enforcement from using drones manufactured by China, thereby grounding the state’s fleet of DJI-made drones. The update to Rule 60GG-2.0075 of the Florida Administrative Code requires government entities to use drones from “a manufacturer that meets the minimum-security requirements specified in this rule,” with only drones used for “Research and Accountability Purposes” exempted from the prohibition on using equipment from “Foreign Countries of Concern.”
Nevada: SB 11 – passed in 2023 and having taken effect on January 1, 2025 – prohibits “a public agency or law enforcement agency from operating, purchasing or acquiring” a drone in violation of the regulations adopted by the Department of Public Safety. The law requires at a minimum for DPS to incorporate the federal list of Chinese military companies maintained by the Department of Defense pursuant to Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.
Mississippi: Mississippi lawmakers approved SB 2853 in 2023 to require that state-purchased drones be manufactured in the United States by an American-owned company and to prohibit state agencies from purchasing or operating drones manufactured or assembled from parts manufactured in China. In signing the bill, Governor Tate Reeves expressed that “[t]he Chinese Communist Party is not a friend to Mississippi or the United States. They want to exploit vulnerabilities in technology to harm our country and our citizens.”
While these states have shown early leadership on addressing the threat posed by state agencies and law enforcement relying on Chinese-made drones, they are still greatly outnumbered by states that have yet to pass protections to mitigate the risk. The Protecting America Initiative will continue to highlight these policy achievements as potential models for other states to take action on China.