# Executive Order 14421 **Declaring a National Emergency To Secure the United States Bulk-Power System**, signed August 26, 2026. Declares a national emergency over foreign-produced bulk-power system electric equipment and prohibits any acquisition, importation, transfer or installation of such equipment — initiated after the order's date — where the Secretary of Energy determines it is supplied by a person owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction of a "Covered Foreign Entity" and poses an undue risk of sabotage, subversion, unauthorized access, malicious remote action or supply disruption. ## What is covered The equipment definition is unusually long and explicitly reaches software and services: reactors, capacitors, substation transformers, utility-scale and other grid-connected inverters, battery energy storage systems, uninterruptible power supply systems supporting critical infrastructure, large and small generators, backup generators, substation voltage regulators, automatic circuit reclosers, instrument transformers, protective relaying, metering equipment, high-voltage circuit breakers, **generation turbines**, industrial control systems, distributed control systems and safety instrumented systems — plus associated software, firmware, remote-access capabilities and lifecycle maintenance mechanisms. "Bulk-power system" is defined to include transmission rated at 69 kV or higher and to **exclude** local distribution facilities. A "Covered Foreign Entity" is a country or person subject to a U.S. arms embargo or sanctions regime under the ITAR, or one the Secretary of Energy determines is engaged in conduct detrimental to U.S. national security or foreign policy. ## What it authorizes - The Secretary of Energy may impose conditions on equipment **already installed** before the order — including requirements to identify, isolate, monitor, secure, disconnect, replace or remove it — after considering reliability, safety, availability of secure replacements and continuity of service. - The Secretary may pre-qualify particular vendors and equipment, and publish that list. - Implementing rules or regulations are due within **120 days** of the order. - Within 180 days, the Secretary must recommend Federal Acquisition Regulation revisions prioritizing U.S.-manufactured energy infrastructure; the FAR Council then has 90 days to consider proposing them. ## Why the order says it exists The preamble names the cause directly: "The rapid growth of advanced manufacturing, data centers, artificial intelligence, and defense production has increased the Nation's dependence on abundant, reliable electricity and magnified the consequences of a successful attack or supply disruption on the bulk-power system." The order is therefore a national-security instrument whose stated predicate is AI load growth — see [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]]. ## Naming caution Several trade-compliance and law-firm alerts published August 27–28, 2026 identified this order as "Executive Order 14420." That is incorrect. The Federal Register text is definitive: this is **14421**, and [[Executive Order 14420]] is the August 10, 2026 childhood-vaccine order. ## Sources - [Federal Register, 91 FR 55995 (August 31, 2026), doc. 2026-17843 (PDF)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-08-31/pdf/2026-17843.pdf) - [Utility Dive: "Trump declares emergency, moves to block some foreign-made equipment from grid"](https://www.utilitydive.com/news/trump-declares-emergency-moves-to-block-some-foreign-made-equipment-from-g/828959/) ## See Also - [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]] - [[Department of Energy]] - [[Federal Energy Regulatory Commission]] - [[Donald Trump]]