The Interior Department has grounded its fleet of more than 800 drones, citing potential cybersecurity risks and the need to support U.S. drone production – suggesting the move is aimed at least in part at China, a leading drone producer.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt signed an order on Wednesday grounding the drones, formalizing a “pause” he ordered nearly three months ago.
“We’ve had only 12 drone flights since that time for emergency operations related to fires and floods,” DOI Spokesperson Carol Danko said.
In his order, Bernhardt does not say whether his department has determined that its drones were somehow susceptible to being hacked. But he did say that information collected during drone flights could be “valuable to foreign entities, organizations, and governments.”
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