The FCC chair will speak at CES. Will he address the DJI drone ban?

CES is normally a place for big tech news, but this year’s show could add a dash of political intrigue to the mix.

At 11 a.m. on Thursday in Las Vegas, the annual Consumer Electronics Show will act as the venue for a “fireside chat” between Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro, FCC chairman Brendan Carr, and FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson. Carr’s involvement is key here because the FCC recently banned the sale of drones from the Chinese firm DJI, which manufactures a large majority of consumer drones on the market.

The big question here is will Carr address the DJI drone ban at CES? It would certainly be an appropriate venue for it, given the tech-focused nature of the event. However, the description of the fireside chat is incredibly vague, promising only “candid conversations on how [the FCC and FTC] are navigating the rapidly changing tech landscape.” There’s no mention of a Q&A or anything like that, so it’s very possible that the topics of conversation will steer clear of anything potentially controversial. We will have to wait and see.

What is the DJI ban?

In case you haven’t been following the news, the momentum towards a total ban on DJI drones in the United States started last year as part of the Trump administration’s trade war with China. The government required all Chinese-manufactured drones to undergo a “national security risk assessment” by late December. Unfortunately for DJI, late December came and the ban went into place.

For its part, DJI agreed to take part in audits, but apparently that wasn’t enough for the FCC. Again, it’s not certain if Carr will or won’t address the ban at CES, but in case you’re curious how he feels about it, he provided a statement at the time of the ban that might say everything you need to know.

“President Trump has been clear that his Administration will act to secure our airspace and unleash American drone dominance,” Carr said.