The Trump administration issued an executive order on Wednesday banning the acquisition of foreign-made technology used to manage electricity and power generation. The White House said the decision was made because “certain foreign actors are increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities” in so-called bulk-power systems — the large-scale equipment that runs power plants, substations, control rooms, and electrical reactors generating 69,000 volts or higher.
The order warns that hardware components in critical power infrastructure may contain digital backdoors allowing foreign governments to access equipment remotely, manipulate it, or cause supply-chain disruptions. The administration pointed to recent incidents — including an alleged Iranian group that reportedly shut down a small British power plant for four days — and a joint NSA and FBI advisory about an AI-powered threat against a specific brand of operational technology used in the energy, water, and agriculture sectors. The FBI also disrupted a Chinese botnet on the same day, which they said had been used to breach energy infrastructure. Federal agencies are now required to review currently deployed foreign-made bulk-power equipment considered at risk and submit remediation plans to the White House.