May 12, 2022
The Biden administration has drafted an executive order that will help prevent China from accessing Americans’ data.
According to a person close to the matter, the document which is an initial draft is being reviewed by government agencies and may change.
Should it be implemented, the draft order would grant U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland the authority to review and potentially stop commercial transactions that involve the sales of or access to data if they pose an undue risk to national security.
The proposal will also ensure that the HHS draft a rule “to ensure that federal assistance, such as grants and awards, is not supporting the transfer of U.S. persons’ health, health-related or biological data… to entities owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries.”
U.S. intelligence has been critical of threats posed by Chinese companies collecting Americans’ data by investing in U.S. firms handing sensitive healthcare information.
The proposal came after the Commerce Department delayed rolling out rules and investigating threats despite having the power to ban or restrict transactions between U.S. firms and tech companies “foreign adversary” nations including Russia and China.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
