On October 17, the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security released a “China Threat Snapshot” assessment, enumerating “recent cases of Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-related espionage and acts of transnational repression in the United States.” The 10-page documents (available in full below) lists more than 55 espionage cases since 2021, more than 200 incidents of Chinese espionage against the United States since 2000, and more than 36,000 apprehensions of Chinese nationals at the southwest border in 2024, more than all the apprehensions from 2007 to 2020 combined.
Two weeks after that assessment came out, media outlets reported that Chinese hacking/spying organization Salt Typhoon had surreptitiously collected audio and text messages from President Elect Trump and Vice President Elect J.D. Vance, as well as from staffers for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. But the infiltration is much larger. According to the Washington Post, “Millions of mobile-phone users on the networks of at least three major U.S. carriers could…be ongoingly vulnerable to Chinese government surveillance.”
These incidents provide a glimpse into the expansive network China has developed to gather data that could impact the U.S. government, economy, and military. This network has even extended into U.S. local law enforcement agencies — in the form of Chinese-made drones. A significant number of police departments and sheriff’s offices currently rely on UASs manufactured in China.
The drone age in law enforcement
In recent years, law enforcement agencies have been losing resources, struggling to recruit qualified officers and hemorrhaging experienced personnel. As a result, American communities are bearing the consequences: longer response times or in many cases no response at all for calls for service; fewer crimes solved and cleared; and active-duty officers who are burned out and retiring earlier than projected. These factors collectively compromise the quality of life in our communities.
Technology is increasingly delivering a multiplier effect for agencies and that is no more true than with drones, formally known as uncrewed aerial systems — or UAS. UAS have quickly gone from a niche tool with limited capabilities to an increasingly important solution that increases officer safety, mitigates public safety staffing shortages and keeps communities safer. Getting real-time awareness in dangerous scenarios for responding officers and leadership results in better outcomes and greater accountability. However, as law enforcement programs continue to redefine the landscape of public safety, the integration of drones has provided a potentially devastating new vector for the threat from China.
Drones are not just for stunning aerial shots anymore; they’re on the front lines of modern policing. From tracking suspects to aiding in emergency responses, this video covers the diverse roles drones play in law enforcement today.
The unwitting threat from drones
China has been suspected of recent espionage via drones in the United States. Federal authorities have warned that unidentified swarms of UAS have appeared over sensitive critical infrastructure. The Wall Street Journal reported that drones swarmed in restricted airspace above Langley Air Force Base along the coast of Virginia for 17 straight days late last year. Langley houses both the Navy’s SEAL Team Six home base and Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval port in the world.
Two months earlier, drones were spotted flying above the Department of Energy’s Nevada Nuclear Security Site near Las Vegas, which conducts nuclear-weapons testing. Even so, the vast majority of U.S. law enforcement agencies that deploy UAS — 80% — use drones manufactured in China.
Many police drone operators praise the quality and affordability of Chinese drones. What makes Chinese drones eminently affordable is that they are financially supported by Beijing, according to The Washington Post.
For years, national security experts have repeatedly warned about vulnerabilities and backdoors in law enforcement drone software that may allow adversaries to map critical infrastructure and collect sensitive data. Federal and state authorities caution that these UAS are flying across the United States and Canada capturing data over our dams, railroads, ports, cell towers, bridges and other critical infrastructure. Chinese-made drones flown by American police are even being used to protect political and Congressional leaders campaigning across the country.
Though Chinese drones proliferate in law enforcement some police executives, such as Mike Moulton, chief of police in El Cajon, California, take the threat seriously. “Given the growing national security concerns tied to foreign-made drones, it is imperative that law enforcement agencies phase out their use of drones manufactured by adversarial nations. While foreign drones have provided affordable and reliable solutions, the potential threat to critical infrastructure cannot be overlooked,” Moulton says. “It’s time to prioritize public safety by investing in domestic drone manufacturing, ensuring that we protect both our communities and our nation’s security interests.”
Canadian authorities have echoed those concerns. Peter Lambrinakos, former chief of police and corporate security for VIA Rail Canada, adds that law enforcement in that nation have also underestimated the threat of Chinese-manufactured drones. Lambrinakos, who directs the Public Safety Program at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute, says that Chinese drones “represent the proverbial foxes in the henhouse.”
In fact, federal agencies have imposed bans on Chinese drones for years. In January, the FBI and Department of Homeland Securityʼs Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a memorandum reaffirming that Chinese-made drones “continue to pose a significant risk to critical infrastructure and U.S. national security.” CISA issued accompanying guidance, specifying vulnerabilities in data collection and transfer, patching and firmware updates, and a “broader surface for data collection” (when UAS and peripherals are incorporated into a network)
Opponents of a Chinese-made drone ban point to a September 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office that examined the effect of the Chinese drone ban on the Department of the Interior. “Interior faces challenges with maintaining a sufficient drone fleet because drones compliant with its policies are more expensive and do not always have sufficient capabilities” such as the ability to carry some specialized sensors, the report concluded.
However, such problems may be receding as compliant drones improve. For example, Interior officials told GAO auditors that as of early 2024 they have identified reliable drones that are compliant with regulations.
Still, experts note that the Chinese are exploiting data-collection and data-transfer devices beyond drones. The U.S. Commerce Department recently proposed a ban on certain Chinese and Russia car parts — software and hardware that connects vehicles to the Internet and other networks. Moreover, the Pentagon has warned that the Port of Virginia may be using as many as 30 Chinese-made ship-to-shore cranes that can track shipping containers’ locations and are vulnerable to remote attacks.
Next steps
Agencies developing, maintaining, or updating a UAS program must be keenly conscientious of the national security risks involved with using these high-tech tools.
There has been a call to build and expand our own domestic manufacturing base here in the United States and Canada for microelectronics, including drones. This, advocates say, is the only way to safeguard our data and to ensure there are no backdoor exploits or malicious code inserted by foreign sourcing or insecure supply chains. A top priority for state and federal legislatures as we move into 2025 should be to at once provide funding or grants to replace potentially insecure drones with secure North American- and allied-made UAS. Granting a phase out period for Chinese-made UAS and a phase-in period for North American- and allied-made drones may ease the transfer process for law enforcement and ensure that our public guardians always have capable drones in the sky to safeguard the citizenry and save lives.
The case for drones in law enforcement
U.S. law enforcement organizations have been using UAS since the mid-2000s for a broad suite of public safety use cases , including search and rescue, SWAT operations, traffic-accident response and forensic investigations. These benefits have been extensively cataloged, including conserving and more strategically deploying staff resources, better documenting crime scenes, enhancing situational awareness, and, most importantly, removing both officers and citizens from danger (and thus reducing injuries and deaths). In addition, the evolution of drone as first responder programs is further revolutionizing the use of these devices in law enforcement.
Among the documented benefits of UAS:
- Over 11 days during the 2024 state fair, Oklahoma City police us ing drones de-escalated a potential shooting, located six missing people, and responded to one traffic collision. By using drones this year, for the first time, the police didn’t record any stolen vehicles or auto burglaries at the fair .
- In August, the NYPD used a drone to safely resolve a home invasion incident and capture the culprits.
- In 214 cases between October 2023 and September 2024, deploying a drone eliminated the need for Montgomery County, Maryland, to respond to service calls with a patrol unit. In just a few months, San Francisco police used drones to apprehend organized retail criminals, catch armed auto burglary suspects, safely disperse an illegal fireworks gathering, and catch fleeing suspects while minimizing risk to civilians and officers.
- On January 25, 2023, Dallas police used a drone to detect a gun being held by a suspect in a car. Identifying the gun enabled police to respond appropriately and avoid injury or death.
The benefits and value of police drones have spurred a boom in acquisitions. At least 1,500 law sheriff’s offices and police departments use drones as of fall 2024, up from about 1,100 in March 2020 and 599 in May 2018, an approximately 150% increase in six years.
