On May 1st, 2020,
Trump signed an executive order that established regulations of foreign-made
equipment used in the United States bulk-power system. The order stated that
Energy Secretary Dan Bouillotte would assemble a task force to oversee current
policies that identify threats to securities and establish risk-management
procedures to inform future procurement.
The order will have an
impact on the future of power and electrical equipment purchases and possibly already installed
and commissioned components at the generation and transmission level. “This is
much broader; it reaches across the entire industry, not just the
telecommunication infrastructure,” said Jason Johns, an energy market attorney
with Stoel Rives, LLP. “At the same time, it is particularly broad and
imprecise in terms of its application.’
The utility sector
looks uncertain about how they will react to Trump’s order. It’s not clear how
the mandate to secure the bulk power system from foreign cybersecurity attacks
will affect the industry’s current infrastructure.
