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Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure
Trump signed an executive order declaring an emergency to bar foreign bulk-power equipment deemed a national security cyber risk.
The executive order, 'Declaring a National Energy Emergency to Secure the United States Bulk-Power System,' prohibits acquiring, importing, transferring, or installing foreign-produced bulk-power equipment and software deemed risky, citing fears of digital backdoors in Chinese-made grid gear. China supplies roughly 85% of solar supply chain capacity and is a major transformer manufacturer. The Energy Department has 120 days to develop implementing rules; the order revives a 2020 Trump-era measure the Biden administration had suspended after utilities found compliance difficult.
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Trump Targets Foreign Technology in New U.S. Power Grid Security Order
Trump's Executive Order 14420 declares a national emergency to restrict foreign-made bulk-power grid equipment over cyber, sabotage and supply-chain risks.
Executive Order 14420, signed August 26, declares a national emergency regarding the foreign supply of bulk-power system electric equipment to the United States. It empowers the Energy Secretary to restrict transactions with designated Covered Foreign Entities involving equipment, software, firmware, digital services, maintenance services, and remote-access capabilities. Covered equipment includes transformers, generators, inverters, RTUs, PLCs, intelligent electronic devices, and protective relays, with transmission rated 69 kV or higher in scope while local distribution is excluded. Already-installed foreign equipment may be subject to identification, isolation, monitoring, or replacement requirements, with phased compliance and pre-qualified vendor exemptions permitted.
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Germany moves to give spy agencies hacking and sabotage powers
Germany's cabinet approved a 732-page bill granting BND and BfV intelligence agencies new hacking, sabotage, and disinformation powers pending parliamentary approval.
Germany's cabinet approved draft legislation that would give the foreign intelligence service BND and domestic agency BfV active operational powers, including hacking foreign systems, sabotaging supply chains with faulty components, disabling servers of hostile state-sponsored hackers, and feeding false information to extremists inside Germany. The 732-page bill, the largest overhaul of postwar German spy laws, requires telecom carriers and digital providers to assist the agencies, bars measures endangering life, and imposes new statutory controls on how agencies use AI analysis, including judge-supervised spot checks of machine-generated outputs. The reforms stem from a Federal Constitutional Court ruling on surveillance proportionality and are expected to pass parliament, with the government aiming for the law to take effect next year; civil liberties groups plan to challenge it.
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