On January 20th, Joe Biden took the oath of office:
"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Hours later, he signed an executive order (EO) that among other surprises suspended an EO executed by Donald Trump last spring.
(c) Executive Order 13920 of May 1, 2020 (Securing the United States Bulk-Power System), is hereby suspended for 90 days. The Secretary of Energy and the Director of OMB shall jointly consider whether to recommend that a replacement order be issued.
I don't put much stock in names, given they are almost always intended to deceive (see "Antifa" and "the Affordable Care Act,") so let's take a look at the actual language of the "Securing the United States Bulk-Power System" EO that Biden is suspending.
Accordingly, I hereby order:
Section 1. Prohibitions and Implementation. (a) The following actions are prohibited: any acquisition, importation, transfer, or installation of any bulk power system electric equipment (transaction) by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, where the transaction involves any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest (including through an interest in a contract for the provision of the equipment), where the transaction was initiated after the date of this order, and where the Secretary of Energy (Secretary), 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, as appropriate, the heads of other executive departments and agencies (agencies), has determined that:
I'd like to pause here, in part so your eyes won't start tearing up from excessive exposure to government-speak, and in part to highlight a key difference between this, and Biden's order.
Biden's order grants authority to the following individuals:
The Secretary of Energy and the Director of OMB.
Trump's order included both of them, but added that determinations be done "in consultation with:"
the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, and, as appropriate, the heads of other executive departments and agencies.
Keep that in mind as we move on.
(i) the transaction involves bulk-power system electric equipment designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied, by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary; and (ii) the transaction: (A) poses an undue risk of sabotage to or subversion of the design, integrity, manufacturing, production, distribution, installation, operation, or maintenance of the bulk-power system in the United States; (B) poses an undue risk of catastrophic effects on the security or resiliency of United States critical infrastructure or the economy of the United States; or (C) otherwise poses an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons.
Nothing in Biden's EO prevents input from anybody, and it is Biden's call in the end.
But...
I can assure you that these documents are carefully vetted, right down to the punctuation. They are intended to send a message, to signal to his appointees what his priorities are.
Biden is structurally removing the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence from the formal decision-making chain and leaving in place only the Energy Secretary and the OMB director neither of whom have any obvious experience, knowledge, or particular motivation to address security concerns.
Why?
Why signal that this is not even worthy of considering, even if just for show, if your goal was anything other than to make it clear what the desired outcome of their 90-day review should be?
It would be entirely too simple and easy to suggest that Biden is hoping Hunter can score another sweet deal with the CCP.
I have a feeling Hunter is going to be temporarily retired for the duration of Biden's time in office.
It goes deeper than that. Official Washington is awash in Chinese money.
Numerous former Washington official have served as lobbyists for Chinese interests including former congressman Charles Boustany, Jon Christenson, and Matt Salmon. Donald (Andy) Purdy Jr was a lead cyber-official at DHS under George W Bush and was chosen to act as chief security officer for Huawei's U.S. operations which also added help from William Black, a former chief of staff to Democrat Steny Hoyer.
Former Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, joined Squire Patton Boggs, a lobbying firm known for its work with the Chinese embassy. Boehner led the push in the late '90s to grant China most favored nation status.
Former GOP Senator Bob Dole lobbies for a Chinese chemical company and former Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman lobbies for a Chinese telecom.
Joe Biden's inauguration committee recently returned a small donation from former Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer because she is registered as a lobbyist for Chinese surveillance firm Hikvision.
The Commerce Department blacklisted Hikivision in 2019 for its alleged involvement in China's repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province.
Hikivision cameras are reportedly used to surveil Uyghurs the Chinese government has imprisoned [in] concentration camps. The company's equipment is also used throughout the U.S., including on military bases, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017.
When asked about representing a firm involved in sending ethnic minorities into concentration camps, Boxer's response is as bloodless as it is revealing.
"When I am asked to provide strategic advice to help a company operate in a more responsible and humane manner consistent with U.S. law in spirit and letter, it is an opportunity to make things better while helping protect and create American jobs."
That is official Washington. They think nothing of it. They don't even believe they are doing anything wrong.
Joe Biden comes from that culture. Donald Trump, for all his many faults (and they were legion) did not.
That is why they had to undermine him as much as they could.
Trump understood the existential threat China poses to the United States. China has said as much explicitly.
By removing any obvious security consideration regarding the equipment used in the United States power grid makes us even more vulnerable to Chinese designs for world dominance than we already are.
Remember this?
The SolarWinds cyberattack on both United States government agencies and private companies was done by hiding malware in a commonly used piece of IT resource management software sold by SolarWinds. The extent of the damage that it has caused is unknown, but already believed to be massive.
That is believed to have been an "outside job," in which Russian hackers broke in to SolarWinds' servers and inserted the software.
Now imagine what you could accomplish on the inside, hiding malicious code built in from the ground up in seemingly benign tertiary systems.
Keep that in mind as Joe Biden tells you, "China's not our problem."
