WASHINGTON, D.C. – In case you missed it, today, Senator Rick Scott, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, wrote an op-ed for Fox News highlighting the importance of his recently passed bipartisan American Security Drone Act and the critical need to continue protecting American families and the U.S. Government from the threats posed by tech controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

In the op-ed, Senator Rick Scott wrote, “After leading the fight for years to ban the federal government from buying Chinese-made drones, my American Security Drone Act finally passed and was recently signed into law. This is a huge win in our fight against Communist China...

Communist China’s commitment to spying on America was on full display last year as we watched its spy balloon soar across the United States. 

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You have to think of every drone made in Communist China just like that balloon. Each one has the ability to gather data or carry harmful payloads across America’s military installations, and target our critical infrastructure, natural resources, businesses and families. 

We all need to accept that Communist China wants to destroy the American way of life. Everything that comes from Communist China is a threat to our freedoms and security. This is especially true for technology. 

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For years, Xi was making progress toward accomplishing this goal thanks to the prolific reliance on his fleet of Communist Chinese drones that the U.S. has widely-adopted from our local law enforcement agencies to the Department of the Interior and backyard hobbyists. 

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China’s flagship drone company, DJI, has received a lot of attention and documented CCP government subsidies which makes sense given that DJI commands more than 70 percent of the world’s commercial drone market.

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This is why my bill was necessary.

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It is important the federal government set the standard on what drones are safe and free of security risks for our communities and not prop-up Chinese companies by ceasing to buy Beijing’s drones. 

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Stopping our procurement of these drones across the board is much more efficient and we took a huge step toward that when the American Security Drone Act became law. 

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I am proud to have led the fight against Chinese drones and while this is an important victory, there is much more work to do.

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We must use this momentum to continue removing CCP-backed products, from infiltrating American life, spying on our critical infrastructure and stealing our data and helping Communist China weaken U.S. freedom and security at home and abroad.

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It is critical that we enhance U.S. economic independence and security and end the tyranny of an industry monopoly by the CCP. I won’t stop until our country is completely safe from all threats posed by the importation of Chinese and adversary-backed technologies.”

Read the full op-ed in Fox News HERE.  

Want more? Senator Scott previously published an op-ed in Fox News on this important topic. Read more: China's spying is out of control: Get the CCP's drones out of US skies.

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