Whether you’re a one-room film production house or a propagandist for a massive arm of the US government, you’re never too good to have an extra set of eyes take a look at your final draft.
That’s a lesson some PR spinsters with the Department of Homeland Security evidently have yet to learn, after the agency posted a 40-second clip for its new drone program, hyping up “American Air Superiority.”
As DHS propaganda goes, it’s your typical fare under Trump 2.0. There’s some cloyingly uplifting music, a few shots of drones in the sky, and bold-lettered copy proclaiming things like “innovation in action.” One detail, though, is so out of place that it feels like parody: the inclusion of footage showing DHS agents using a prominent Chinese drone brand.
The discrepancy was first spotted by drone researcher Faine Greenwood, who noticed that officers in the video were using a remote controller made by DJI, a company headquartered in Shenzhen, China. Given that DJI hardware uses closed-source communication protocols — which means they’re not cross-compatible with other drone brands — it follows that the DHS officer was piloting a Chinese-made drone.
The optics are bizarre for the Trump administration, which is rabidly anti-China.
“Someone needs to ask Kristi Noem why she and DHS are promoting and using Sinister Chinese Communist drones, instead of Square-Jawed Heterosexual American Drones,” Greenwood quipped.
The humiliating self-own comes after Donald Trump moved to ban Chinese-made drones back in December, a move which specifically included DJI. However, following a Pentagon recommendation, the administration temporarily lifted some of the restrictions on certain brands — though DJI remains prohibited.
That actually raises real questions. Why is the government still using drones, especially for sensitive homeland security purposes, that are expressly prohibited? If they’re really so concerned, there are plenty of perfectly serviceable American brands.
It’s also an astonishing oversight for such a high-profile video — if the government is going to wantonly break its own rules for a little PR spin, shouldn’t it at least make some effort to cover it up?
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The post There’s Something So Embarrassing About Homeland Security’s New Drone Video That We’re Gonna Have to Sit Down for a Minute appeared first on Futurism.
