Executive Order On Bulk-Power System Security: The Devil Is In The Lack Of Details

On May 1, 2020, the President issued an Executive Order (EO) that declared that foreign adversaries' actions to create and exploit vulnerabilities in the United States bulk-power system (BPS), along with domestic unrestricted acquisition or use of BPS equipment in which foreign adversaries had certain roles, poses a national emergency. Accordingly, effective immediately, the EO provides that with respect to transactions initiated after the EO was issued, such BPS equipment may not be acquired or installed when the Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, and other appropriate heads of departments and agencies, has made certain national security determinations with respect to such transaction.