U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order declaring a national emergency to protect the security, integrity and reliability of equipment used in the U.S. electric grid, the White House announced.
According to the U.S. administration, the decision comes in response to what it described as an “unusual and extraordinary foreign threat” to U.S. national security involving certain equipment intended for large-scale electric power systems and manufactured abroad.
The White House said that some foreign-made electrical equipment used in large-scale power systems could present national security vulnerabilities.
The executive order generally prohibits the purchase or installation in the United States of certain foreign-made equipment and software intended for large-scale electric power systems.
It also authorizes the Department of Energy to impose conditions on the continued use and operation of such equipment in order to address the identified concerns.
The order further directs the Secretary of Energy to identify electricity transmission equipment that could pose the specified risks and to make recommendations to the President’s National Security Advisor on measures to address them.
