President Biden Issues Executive Order Restricting Bulk Transfers Of Sensitive Personal And US Government-Related Data

On 28 February 2024, President Biden issued Executive Order 14117 of February 28, 2024, Preventing Access to Americans' Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern (EO) aimed at restricting bulk transfers of certain sensitive data outside the United States to certain foreign parties and establishing security guidelines for sensitive data stored in the United States. The EO represents a broad new initiative to restrict large-scale transfers of personal data to foreign entities, an area that has largely been unregulated, and is generally aligned with a series of administrative actions aimed at protecting the sensitive personal data of US citizens and military personnel. This new initiative is also separate and distinct from data privacy laws, whether federal or state, although some of the types of data covered by the EO are also subject to data protection laws for other reasons. To underscore the Biden administration's