FCC places Pentagon's sealed Section 1709 letters in DJI and Autel dockets, says it did not rely on them

TLDR

• The FCC filed the Department of War's Section 1709 letters in DJI's and Autel's Covered List challenge records.¹²
• Only redacted cover pages are public, and the FCC says it did not rely on the letters.¹²
• The FCC has not ruled on DJI's petition or Autel's application for review.¹²

The FCC released Public Notice DA 26-1106 on 14 October, adding the letters the Department of War sent to congressional committees under Section 1709 of the FY2025 NDAA to ET Dockets 26-22 (SZ DJI Technology) and 26-23 (Autel Robotics).¹ Drone Authority reports that the redacted, unclassified cover pages are in the public record while the classified letters are under seal, and that the notice adds one line of its own: the FCC did not rely on these materials at the time it made any related additions to the Covered List.¹ The notice also points out that the department referenced the letters in a 6 April filing in these dockets, saying they fulfilled its Section 1709 duty to report to congressional committees.¹

DroneXL, which read the filing, says it holds eight identical letters signed by Michael P. Cadenazzi, Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy, addressed to the chairs of the Senate and House committees with ranking members copied.² The public pages run three paragraphs: they name DJI, state that the government has "clear national security concerns" that foreign producers of drones or drone components could harm US persons, and announce a classified annex.² DroneXL notes that sentence closely matches language in the 21 December determination the FCC published with its 22 December 2025 Covered List action on DJI, and that the public pages identify no specific threat.² The Verge says the FCC forwarded the letters to 16 members of Congress.³

Section 1709 gave a national security agency a year to decide whether DJI and Autel communications or video surveillance equipment posed an unacceptable risk; absent a determination, the FCC had to add the equipment to the Covered List.¹ DJI filed its petition for reconsideration on 21 January and Autel's application for review has been in the record since 21 January; the record shows no ruling on either.¹ A second notice, DA 26-1112, released 15 October, places a 14 October letter from Sen. Rick Scott to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr into the same dockets, in which he says he supports adding DJI and Autel technology to the Covered List.¹

Why it matters: the filing puts the government's formal Section 1709 paper trail into the record DJI and Autel are contesting, but the public portion offers no new evidence and the FCC says it did not rely on the letters, so the outcome of the challenges still turns on material the public cannot see and on rulings the FCC has not yet made.