Representatives Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) and John Moolenaar (R., Mich.) are asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate a drone-industry advocacy group that they say is actually run by DJI, a Pentagon-designated Chinese military company, National Review has learned.

In a letter yesterday, the lawmakers wrote that a group called the Drone Advocacy Alliance is a front for DJI and that as such it should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). “The Drone Advocacy Alliance is facilitating a CCP-led disinformation and propaganda campaign targeting Americans – activity that meets the threshold of political activities as defined under the FARA statute and regulations,” says the letter, obtained by NR. Stefanik is the House GOP Conference chairwoman, and Moolenaar is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

Lobbyists for DJI have historically registered under the law for domestic lobbyists, rather than under FARA, which subjects registrants to stringent reporting requirements. FARA reports detail the individuals with whom lobbyists spoke, the precise text of relevant lobbying contracts, and other financial information.

Because DOJ has historically declined to challenge lobbyists for Chinese firms who register under the domestic law instead of FARA, it’s common for Chinese-military-company lobbyists to disregard FARA requirements.

DJI was initially placed on the Pentagon’s list of Chinese military companies in 2022 for its role in supporting the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army, and it has also been blacklisted by the Treasury Department for its role in the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state in Xinjiang, where it is carrying out genocide against Uyghurs. Officials are also concerned that the Chinese authorities could access data created by DJI products in America and control them.

The Drone Advocacy Alliance hosts a website that obscures its ties to DJI, and it describes itself as “a non-partisan, drone-agnostic grassroots advocacy coalition” that was formed to oppose regulations at the state and federal levels that could “upend the burgeoning drone ecosystem.” The page features the logo of DJI, in addition to several smaller players in the industry, trade groups, and other associations.

But the alliance’s resources page includes several documents with DJI talking points, including DJI-branded fact sheets offering arguments against legislation that would restrict the use of DJI drones in the United States. Stefanik and Moolenaar noted in their letter that the alliance’s website includes a template letter for individuals to contact their lawmakers. TikTok employed a similar tactic in the lead-up to congressional votes on legislation to force its divestiture by parent company ByteDance; users of the app received a pop-up notification urging them to contact their members of Congress to oppose the bill.

DJI has employed fierce lobbying campaigns against legislation that it opposes, leveraging connections with local law enforcement to pressure Congress not to pass curbs on the use of DJI products by federal agencies. Congress overcame those efforts and passed a ban on federal government use late last year.

“Americans deserve heightened transparency when entities are lobbying Congress and the public in a campaign to prop up a CCP spy tool that facilitates genocide and arms the PLA,” the lawmakers wrote to Garland. “As such, we urge your department to review the Drone Advocacy Alliance’s activities for potential FARA filing requirements.”