“At least two transformers from JSHP have already been discovered to contain hardware backdoors that could enable Chinese agents to maliciously remote-access and manipulate them.”

EO 13920 was issued because of the hardware backdoors found in the Chinese-made transformer installed at the WAPA Ault substation outside Denver in August 2019.

....

Another large Chinese-made transformer was sent to the Sandia National Laboratory for detailed evaluation. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has not shared information on what has been found with either the WAPA transformer or the transformer at Sandia. However, recently, the presence of hardware backdoors in the Chinese-made transformer at Sandia was confirmed by Latham Saddler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0EawFC18MI) who was the Director of Intelligence Programs at the National Security Council during the Trump administration. Latham stated that the Chinese transformer was taken to “one of our national labs,” and something was found in the transformer: “They found hardware that was put into the transformer that had the ability for somebody in China to switch it off.”  Not only has this information not been shared with US utilities, this information has not been shared with our closest allies who also have these Chinese-made transformers.

Given that hardware backdoors were found in these two Chinese-made transformers, what does that mean to the other almost 300 Chinese-made transformers already installed in the US grid?

Quoted:


We don’t make the big transformers in the U.S. anymore, haven’t for years. Plus they are over a year lead time.