Executive Order on Imposing Certain Sanctions in the
Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election
Foreign Policy
Issued on: September 12, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-imposing-certain-sanctions-event-foreign-interference-united-states-election/?fbclid=IwAR39wIYpq4YldgVhuxSZ20AQgxqVq4GHeh4NFYFZ38phcus76TztTqN_wgs
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA),
the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), section 212(f) of
the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301
of title 3, United States Code,
I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
America, find that the ability of persons located, in whole or in substantial
part, outside the United States to interfere in or undermine public confidence
in United States elections, including through the unauthorized accessing of
election and campaign infrastructure or the covert distribution of propaganda
and disinformation, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the
national security and foreign policy of the United States. Although there has
been no evidence of a foreign power altering the outcome or vote tabulation in
any United States election, foreign powers have historically sought to exploit
America’s free and open political system. In recent years, the proliferation of
digital devices and internet-based communications has created significant
vulnerabilities and magnified the scope and intensity of the threat of foreign
interference, as illustrated in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment. I
hereby declare a national emergency to deal with this threat.
Accordingly, I hereby order:
Section 1. (a) Not later than 45 days after the
conclusion of a United States election, the Director of National Intelligence,
in consultation with the heads of any other appropriate executive departments
and agencies (agencies), shall conduct an assessment of any information
indicating that a foreign government, or any person acting as an agent of or on
behalf of a foreign government, has acted with the intent or purpose of
interfering in that election. The assessment shall identify, to the maximum
extent ascertainable, the nature of any foreign interference and any methods
employed to execute it, the persons involved, and the foreign government or
governments that authorized, directed, sponsored, or supported it. The Director
of National Intelligence shall deliver this assessment and appropriate
supporting information to the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary
of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the
Secretary of Homeland Security.
(b) Within 45 days of receiving the assessment and
information described in section 1(a) of this order, the Attorney General and
the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the heads of any other
appropriate agencies and, as appropriate, State and local officials, shall
deliver to the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the
Treasury, and the Secretary of Defense a report evaluating, with respect to the
United States election that is the subject of the assessment described in
section 1(a):
(i) the extent to which any foreign interference that
targeted election infrastructure materially affected the security or integrity
of that infrastructure, the tabulation of votes, or the timely transmission of
election results; and
(ii) if any foreign interference involved activities
targeting the infrastructure of, or pertaining to, a political organization,
campaign, or candidate, the extent to which such activities materially affected
the security or integrity of that infrastructure, including by unauthorized
access to, disclosure or threatened disclosure of, or alteration or
falsification of, information or data.
The report shall identify any material issues of fact
with respect to these matters that the Attorney General and the Secretary of
Homeland Security are unable to evaluate or reach agreement on at the time the
report is submitted. The report shall also include updates and recommendations,
when appropriate, regarding remedial actions to be taken by the United States
Government, other than the sanctions described in sections 2 and 3 of this order.
(c) Heads of all relevant agencies shall transmit to the
Director of National Intelligence any information relevant to the execution of
the Director’s duties pursuant to this order, as appropriate and consistent
with applicable law. If relevant information emerges after the submission of
the report mandated by section 1(a) of this order, the Director, in
consultation with the heads of any other appropriate agencies, shall amend the
report, as appropriate, and the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland
Security shall amend the report required by section 1(b), as appropriate.
(d) Nothing in this order shall prevent the head of any
agency or any other appropriate official from tendering to the President, at
any time through an appropriate channel, any analysis, information, assessment,
or evaluation of foreign interference in a United States election.
(e) If information indicating that foreign interference
in a State, tribal, or local election within the United States has occurred is
identified, it may be included, as appropriate, in the assessment mandated by
section 1(a) of this order or in the report mandated by section 1(b) of this
order, or submitted to the President in an independent report.
(f) Not later than 30 days following the date of this order,
the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General,
the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence
shall develop a framework for the process that will be used to carry out their
respective responsibilities pursuant to this order. The framework, which may be
classified in whole or in part, shall focus on ensuring that agencies fulfill
their responsibilities pursuant to this order in a manner that maintains
methodological consistency; protects law enforcement or other sensitive
information and intelligence sources and methods; maintains an appropriate
separation between intelligence functions and policy and legal judgments;
ensures that efforts to protect electoral processes and institutions are insulated
from political bias; and respects the principles of free speech and open
debate.
Sec. 2. (a) All property and interests in property that
are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that
are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States
person of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid,
exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any foreign person determined by
the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the
Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security:
(i) to have directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored,
concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in a United
States election;
(ii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided
financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or
in support of, any activity described in subsection (a)(i) of this section or
any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to
this order; or
(iii) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or
purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose
property or interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.
(b) Executive Order 13694 of April 1, 2015, as amended by
Executive Order 13757 of December 28, 2016, remains in effect. This order is
not intended to, and does not, serve to limit the Secretary of the Treasury’s
discretion to exercise the authorities provided in Executive Order 13694. Where
appropriate, the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney
General and the Secretary of State, may exercise the authorities described in
Executive Order 13694 or other authorities in conjunction with the Secretary of
the Treasury’s exercise of authorities provided in this order.
(c) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section
apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders,
directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding
any contract entered into or any license or permit granted prior to the date of
this order.
Sec. 3. Following the transmission of the assessment
mandated by section 1(a) and the report mandated by section 1(b):
(a) the Secretary of the Treasury shall review the
assessment mandated by section 1(a) and the report mandated by section 1(b),
and, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the
Secretary of Homeland Security, impose all appropriate sanctions pursuant to section
2(a) of this order and any appropriate sanctions described in section 2(b) of
this order; and
(b) the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the
Treasury, in consultation with the heads of other appropriate agencies, shall
jointly prepare a recommendation for the President as to whether additional
sanctions against foreign persons may be appropriate in response to the
identified foreign interference and in light of the evaluation in the report
mandated by section 1(b) of this order, including, as appropriate and
consistent with applicable law, proposed sanctions with respect to the largest
business entities licensed or domiciled in a country whose government
authorized, directed, sponsored, or supported election interference, including
at least one entity from each of the following sectors: financial services,
defense, energy, technology, and transportation (or, if inapplicable to that
country’s largest business entities, sectors of comparable strategic
significance to that foreign government). The recommendation shall include an
assessment of the effect of the recommended sanctions on the economic and
national security interests of the United States and its allies. Any
recommended sanctions shall be appropriately calibrated to the scope of the
foreign interference identified, and may include one or more of the following
with respect to each targeted foreign person:
(i) blocking and prohibiting all transactions in a
person’s property and interests in property subject to United States
jurisdiction;
(ii) export license restrictions under any statute or
regulation that requires the prior review and approval of the United States
Government as a condition for the export or re-export of goods or services;
(iii) prohibitions on United States financial
institutions making loans or providing credit to a person;
(iv) restrictions on transactions in foreign exchange in
which a person has any interest;
(v) prohibitions on transfers of credit or payments
between financial institutions, or by, through, or to any financial
institution, for the benefit of a person;
(vi) prohibitions on United States persons investing in
or purchasing equity or debt of a person;
(vii) exclusion of a person’s alien corporate officers
from the United States;
(viii) imposition on a person’s alien principal executive
officers of any of the sanctions described in this section; or
(ix) any other measures authorized by law.
Sec. 4. I hereby determine that the making of donations
of the type of articles specified in section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C.
1702(b)(2)) by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and
interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order would seriously impair
my ability to deal with the national emergency declared in this order, and I
hereby prohibit such donations as provided by section 2 of this order.
Sec. 5. The prohibitions in section 2 of this order
include the following:
(a) the making of any contribution or provision of funds,
goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and
interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; and
(b) the receipt of any contribution or provision of
funds, goods, or services from any such person.
Sec. 6. I hereby find that the unrestricted immigrant and
nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens whose property and
interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order would be detrimental
to the interests of the United States, and I hereby suspend entry into the
United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of such persons. Such persons
shall be treated as persons covered by section 1 of Proclamation 8693 of July
24, 2011 (Suspension of Entry of Aliens Subject to United Nations Security
Council Travel Bans and International Emergency Economic Powers Act Sanctions).
Sec. 7. (a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has
the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to
violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the
prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
Sec. 8. For the purposes of this order:
(a) the term “person” means an individual or entity;
(b) the term “entity” means a partnership, association,
trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization;
(c) the term “United States person” means any United
States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of
the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including
foreign branches), or any person (including a foreign person) in the United
States;
(d) the term “election infrastructure” means information
and communications technology and systems used by or on behalf of the Federal
Government or a State or local government in managing the election process,
including voter registration databases, voting machines, voting tabulation
equipment, and equipment for the secure transmission of election results;
(e) the term “United States election” means any election
for Federal office held on, or after, the date of this order;
(f) the term “foreign interference,” with respect to an
election, includes any covert, fraudulent, deceptive, or unlawful actions or
attempted actions of a foreign government, or of any person acting as an agent
of or on behalf of a foreign government, undertaken with the purpose or effect
of influencing, undermining confidence in, or altering the result or reported
result of, the election, or undermining public confidence in election processes
or institutions;
(g) the term “foreign government” means any national,
state, provincial, or other governing authority, any political party, or any
official of any governing authority or political party, in each case of a
country other than the United States;
(h) the term “covert,” with respect to an action or
attempted action, means characterized by an intent or apparent intent that the
role of a foreign government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly; and
(i) the term “State” means the several States or any of
the territories, dependencies, or possessions of the United States.
Sec. 9. For those persons whose property and interests in
property are blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional
presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer
funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures
to be taken pursuant to this order would render those measures ineffectual. I
therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the
national emergency declared in this order, there need be no prior notice of a
listing or determination made pursuant to section 2 of this order.
Sec. 10. Nothing in this order shall prohibit
transactions for the conduct of the official business of the United States Government
by employees, grantees, or contractors thereof.
Sec. 11. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation
with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to
take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to
employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to
carry out the purposes of this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may
re-delegate any of these functions to other officers within the Department of
the Treasury consistent with applicable law. All agencies of the United States
Government are hereby directed to take all appropriate measures within their
authority to carry out the provisions of this order.
Sec. 12. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation
with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to
submit the recurring and final reports to the Congress on the national
emergency declared in this order, consistent with section 401(c) of the NEA (50
U.S.C. 1641(c)) and section 204(c) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1703(c)).
Sec. 13. This order shall be implemented consistent with
50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(1) and (3).
Sec. 14. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to
impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department
or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative
proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create
any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in
equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 12, 2018.
