Sen. Rick Scott Urges FCC to Keep Communist Chinese Companies on “Covered List”

Sen. Rick Scott Urges FCC to Keep Communist Chinese Companies on “Covered List” October 19, 2026 WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Rick Scott sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr urging the FCC to keep Communist Chinese companies SZ DJI Technology Co. (DJI) and Autel Robotics Co. (Autel) on its “Covered List” despite the companies’ challenges to the designations. Senator Scott outlined years of Congressional oversight and cited clear national security concerns with DJI and Autel, including sensitive American data being funneled back to the CCP. Senator Scott secured the passage of the Countering CCP Drones and Supporting Drones for Law Enforcement Act in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act , adding these Chinese drone manufacturers to the U.S. government’s official list of communications equipment deemed a national security risk, banning them from U.S. markets. Senator Rick Scott wrote, “Not only do DJI and Autel present unacceptable national security risks through data exfiltration risks and their support to America’s adversaries, but they have also been subsidized by the CCP, enabling them to destroy American manufacturing businesses. Since 2015, China has flooded the global market with artificially low-priced DJI and Autel drones subsidized by the Chinese government in an attempt to become the world’s drone factory. This illicit dumping has driven numerous American companies out of the market and out of business. The United States has a national security imperative to maintain a robust, resilient drone supply chain and industrial base. DJI and Autel have threatened that for years due to unfair trade practices.” Senator Scott has worked for years to protect our country from the national security risks posed by drones manufactured in Communist China and has sought to prevent use of CCP drones by our government and military. He fought successfully to include an amendment in the FY 2025 NDAA that phases out licenses for new drone technology from companies like DJI and Autel, the former of which continuously evades oversight by reincorporating with new shell companies. Read the full letter HERE or below: Dear Chairman Carr: I write today to object to the arguments outlined in the Petition for Reconsideration (Petition) filed by SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. (DJI) and the Application for Review (AFR) filed by Autel Robotics Co., Ltd. (Autel) regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) action to add DJI and Autel equipment to the Covered List. After years of classified briefings, investigations, letters, meetings, and hearings, it is clear to me that both DJI and Autel pose an unacceptable risk to the United States’ national security. I agree with the Administration’s determination that DJI and Autel present a national security threat and strongly support adding their technologies to the FCC’s Covered List. In DJI’s Petition, the company erroneously states that prior to the passage of the Countering CCP Drones Act in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (P.L. 118-159), Congress did not conduct a thorough review of its technology to support the addition of DJI technology to the FCC’s Covered List. This argument is false. For multiple years, Congress investigated the threat DJI technologies pose to the United States through a series of classified briefings from the Intelligence Community and the Department of War (DOW), public hearings on the topic, meetings with industry representatives, and thorough analysis of public reporting and statements from DJI and Autel. As a result of this work, there are multiple bills, hearings, and letters in which both DJI and Autel are uniquely and publicly identified by Congress as presenting a national security risk to the United States. Congress has repeatedly identified the data exfiltration risk posed by DJI equipment operating in America. In February 2022, the Countering CCP Drones Act, which specifically identifies DJI technology as a risk, was introduced for the first time in both the House and the Senate. Then-Senator Marco Rubio, a leading sponsor of the legislation, stated, “Chinese drone-maker DJI has repeatedly lied about its links to the Chinese Communist Party while collecting vast quantities of Americans’ data. The FCC should act immediately to further ban DJI by adding it to its Covered List.” The House unanimously passed the Countering CCP Drones Act, and it was signed into law as part of the FY25 NDAA (PL 118-159). In 2024, the House Select Committee on China held a hearing titled, From High Tech to Heavy Steel: Combatting the PRC’s Strategy to Dominate Semiconductors, Shipbuilding, and Drones in which Committee Chairman John Moolenaar stated, “DJI, a Chinese firm, controls roughly 80 percent of the U.S. commercial drone market….congressional concern stems from the PRC having hundreds of thousands of spy-balloon equivalents operating daily across our Nation, not only jeopardizing our homeland but giving the PRC a dominant position in an industry that is already playing a key role on the front line of modern warfare.” Through these letters, hearings, legislation, and meetings, Congress has urged the Executive Branch to take regulatory actions against DJI and Autel. As a result of this advocacy, Executive Branch agencies have taken multiple actions to limit DJI and Autel’s operations in the United States. In 2017, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bulletin stated that DJI “is providing U.S. critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government,” and that DJI drones were being used to “collect on U.S. critical assets.” In 2020, DJI was added to the Department of Commerce’s Entity List due to DJI’s facilitation of widespread human rights abuses in China through the use of its drones to surveil and monitor the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) detention camps in Xinjiang.  In December 2021, the Department of the Treasury added DJI to its list of Chinese Military-Industrial Complex companies due to DJI’s support of biometric surveillance and tracking of ethnic and religious minorities in China. In October 2022, and recertified every year since, the DOW added DJI to its 1260H list of Chinese Military Companies due to DJI’s role in advancing the modernization efforts of China’s People’s Liberation Army. In addition to aiding the CCP in the brutal oppression of the Uyghur population and advancing modernization efforts of the PLA, DJI continues to export drones to America’s adversaries, including Russia and the cartels on our Southern Border. The Department of Commerce added Autel to its Entity List in June 2024 due to its illicit shipments to Russia since the beginning of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and its attempts to acquire U.S. drone technology for use by the Chinese military. In 2025, the Pentagon added Autel to its list of Chinese Military Companies for its support in modernizing the People’s Liberation Army. Not only do DJI and Autel present unacceptable national security risks through data exfiltration risks and their support to America’s adversaries, but they have also been subsidized by the CCP, enabling them to destroy American manufacturing businesses. Since 2015, China has flooded the global market with artificially low-priced DJI and Autel drones subsidized by the Chinese government in an attempt to become the world’s drone factory. This illicit dumping has driven numerous American companies out of the market and out of business. The United States has a national security imperative to maintain a robust, resilient drone supply chain and industrial base. DJI and Autel have threatened that for years due to unfair trade practices. DJI’s Petition and Autel’s AFR also falsely assert that the U.S. Government did not do a review of their products prior to making the determination that its products present an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security. Following the addition of DJI and Autel to the Covered List, the DOW transmitted a classified report, in line with the requirements of Section 1709, detailing the threats posed by both DJI and Autel to the Congressional committees of jurisdiction. I have read and agree with the analysis detailed in the classified report concluding that DJI and Autel present an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security and that their technology should be on the FCC’s Covered List. These Congressional and Executive Branch actions have been taken despite DJI and Autel’s extensive lobbying efforts, public media campaigns, and commissioned security reviews. Congress has reviewed DJI’s and Autel’s statements and reports and still confidently asserts that DJI and Autel present an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security. For years, Congress has been working to remove DJI and Autel from the United States because of the threat they pose to the national and economic security of this country. I strongly support the Executive Branch’s actions to determine that these technologies present an unacceptable risk to our national security and their inclusion on the FCC’s Covered List. I look forward to continuing to work with you and the rest of the Administration to build out a strong American drone industrial base. ### https://www.rickscott.senate.gov/2026/10/sen-rick-scott-urges-fcc-to-keep-communist-chinese-companies-on-covered-list