BS BULLETIN:

• President Trump declared a national emergency Wednesday over foreign-made equipment embedded in America’s bulk-power system.
• The executive order explicitly warns foreign-built grid equipment could contain “digital backdoors” allowing another country to remotely access it.
• And this isn’t just about stopping future purchases: Trump’s Energy secretary can order suspicious equipment already installed in the American grid to be isolated, disconnected, replaced or removed.

Here’s a comforting thought:

What if some of the foreign-made equipment already sitting inside America’s electrical grid contains a secret back door that another country can access remotely?

President Trump apparently thinks the possibility is serious enough to declare a national emergency.

Trump signed a sweeping executive order Wednesday targeting foreign-produced equipment used throughout America’s bulk-power system — the enormous network of generating stations, substations, transformers and transmission infrastructure that keeps the country running.

The language in the order is unusually blunt.

Trump says foreign actors are “increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities” in the U.S. power system and warns that foreign-made equipment “might have digital backdoors built into their systems that allow a foreign country to access that equipment remotely.”

Read that again.

We’re talking about the equipment helping keep the lights on in the United States.

And the White House is openly warning that some of it could potentially be accessed from overseas.

The stakes aren’t merely whether your refrigerator stops running.

The bulk-power system supplies electricity supporting America’s military, emergency services, critical infrastructure, factories, data centers and economy.

Trump said the threat has become more dangerous as America’s electricity demands explode because of artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, data centers and defense production.

The order targets equipment associated with substations, control rooms and power plants, including transformers, generators, grid-connected inverters, battery storage systems, industrial control systems, protective relays, high-voltage circuit breakers and the software and firmware used to operate them.

And Trump isn’t merely telling utilities to be more careful next time they go shopping.

The order gives Energy Secretary Chris Wright potentially enormous authority over suspect foreign equipment that’s already here.

If equipment poses an unacceptable national-security risk, Wright can impose conditions requiring operators to “identify, isolate, monitor, secure, disconnect, replace, or remove” it.

The administration must consider grid reliability, replacement availability and continuity of essential service before ordering equipment disconnected or removed.

That’s the part of this story that ought to get people’s attention.

Washington isn’t merely worried about hypothetical equipment that might someday enter America.

It’s preparing a system to go looking for potentially dangerous equipment that’s already installed.

Trump ordered the Energy Department, working with defense, intelligence, homeland-security and other officials, to identify foreign equipment that could create risks of sabotage, subversion, catastrophic infrastructure damage or other threats to national security.

The government must then develop recommendations for identifying, inventorying, isolating, monitoring or replacing those components.

The administration will also be able to block future transactions involving equipment, software, firmware, maintenance services and even remote-access capabilities tied to covered foreign entities when officials determine they create unacceptable risks.

Trump isn’t starting this concern from scratch.

During his first term, he issued a 2020 order warning that foreign adversaries could exploit vulnerabilities in America’s bulk-power equipment with “potentially catastrophic effects.”

Now the administration says the danger has grown more acute.

America’s domestic ability to manufacture essential grid hardware is also badly constrained. In April, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act after finding that U.S. capacity to produce transformers, substations, high-voltage components and other grid infrastructure was “dangerously limited,” leaving the country vulnerable during war, disaster or economic disruption.

Wednesday’s order takes the next step: Find the risky foreign hardware. Stop more of it from coming in. And, where necessary, start pulling it out.

DBS WIRE SOURCES

• Trump declares national emergency to secure the United States bulk-power system — White House
• White House fact sheet: Trump declares national emergency to secure America’s bulk-power system
• Trump invokes Defense Production Act over grid infrastructure and supply-chain capacity — White House
• Trump’s 2020 executive order securing the U.S. bulk-power system — Trump White House Archives