WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has drafted an executive order that would give the Department of Justice vast powers to stop foreign adversaries like China accessing Americans’ personal data, according to a person familiar with the matter and excerpts seen by Reuters.
The proposal, which is being reviewed by government agencies, would also direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to prevent federal funding from supporting the transfer of US health data to foreign adversaries, according to the excerpts.
The draft order reflects an effort by the administration to respond more aggressively to national security threats allegedly posed by Chinese companies that acquire reams of US personal data, after failed bids by the Trump administration to bar Americans from using popular social media platforms TikTok and Wechat.
Former President Donald Trump tried to ban the apps in 2020 alleging data collected by them could be given to Beijing and used to track users and censor content. China and the apps have denied any improper use of US data.
But the courts halted implementation of the bans and US President Joe Biden eventually revoked them.
Spokespeople for the White House, the Department of Justice and the Commerce Department declined to comment. HHS did not respond to requests for comment.
The document is an initial draft that does not include input from government agencies and may change, according to another person familiar with the matter.
Asked about the proposal at a press briefing on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that while China believed each country had the right to take measures to protect the personal data and privacy of its citizens, relevant initiatives should be “reasonable and scientific”.
They “should not be relegated as a tool for individual countries to over-generalise the concept of national security, abuse national power, and unreasonably suppress specific countries and enterprises”, he said.
Samm Sacks, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center who examines information and communications policies, said the US was trying to decide how to deal with the issue.
“What’s clear is the Biden administration is grappling with how to address this new risk frontier in the US-China relationship, which is the Chinese government’s access to Americans’ sensitive data,” Sacks said. If implemented, the draft order would grant US Attorney General Merrick Garland the authority to review and potentially bar commercial transactions involving the sale of or access to data if they pose an undue risk to national security, one of the people said.
The proposal would also instruct HHS to get started on writing a rule “to ensure that federal assistance, such as grants and awards, is not supporting the transfer of US persons’ health, health-related or biological data...to entities owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries,” according to an excerpt.
PERSONAL DATA
US intelligence has warned about the risks posed by Chinese companies collecting Americans’ personal data by investing in US firms that handle sensitive healthcare information. China’s BGI purchased US genomic sequencing firm Complete Genomics in 2013 and in 2015, Chinese WuXi Pharma Tech acquired US firm NextCODE Health, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center noted in a 2021 fact sheet.
The draft order comes as administration officials have grown frustrated with the Commerce Department over delays in rolling out rules and investigating threats under similar powers granted to that department by Trump in 2019, according to three people familiar with the process.
Those powers allow the Commerce Department to ban or restrict transactions between US firms and internet, telecom and tech companies from “foreign adversary” nations, including Russia and China.