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A U.S. drone advisory group has been meeting in secret for months. It hasn't gone well.
Source: Washington Post
A U.S. drone advisory group has been meeting in secret for months. It hasn’t gone well.
By Michael Laris October 23 at 2:23 PM
A government advisory group has been holding confidential meetings to shape U.S. policy on drones, deliberating privately about who should regulate a burgeoning industry that will affect everything from package delivery to personal privacy.
The federal group includes industry insiders with a financial stake in the outcome and is co-chaired by a lobbyist for DJI, a Chinese drone maker that dominates the U.S. market. In January, the Federal Aviation Administration asked the group to figure out what influence state and local governments should have over drones in their communities.
The closed proceedings are billed as a way to promote thoughtful and unguarded exchanges — and eventual consensus — among government, community and industry interests. Instead, the process has been riven by suspicion and dysfunction, according to internal documents and emails obtained by The Washington Post, and interviews with participants.
One U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the group’s inner workings, said he found it “very bizarre” to have a representative of a “multibillion-dollar Chinese drone manufacturer” helping guide such a sensitive U.S. policy exercise — and doing it “out of the public eye.”
-snip-
By Michael Laris October 23 at 2:23 PM
A government advisory group has been holding confidential meetings to shape U.S. policy on drones, deliberating privately about who should regulate a burgeoning industry that will affect everything from package delivery to personal privacy.
The federal group includes industry insiders with a financial stake in the outcome and is co-chaired by a lobbyist for DJI, a Chinese drone maker that dominates the U.S. market. In January, the Federal Aviation Administration asked the group to figure out what influence state and local governments should have over drones in their communities.
The closed proceedings are billed as a way to promote thoughtful and unguarded exchanges — and eventual consensus — among government, community and industry interests. Instead, the process has been riven by suspicion and dysfunction, according to internal documents and emails obtained by The Washington Post, and interviews with participants.
One U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the group’s inner workings, said he found it “very bizarre” to have a representative of a “multibillion-dollar Chinese drone manufacturer” helping guide such a sensitive U.S. policy exercise — and doing it “out of the public eye.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/a-us-drone-advisory-group-has-been-meeting-in-secret-for-months-its-work-has-not-gone-well/2017/10/23/f53106e0-6c01-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html