Executive Order 13865, signed on March 26, 2019, directed the federal government to establish a coordinated national strategy for protecting critical infrastructure and military systems against electromagnetic pulses. The order created an interagency task force tasked with assessing vulnerabilities across the nation's electrical grid, communications networks, and energy systems, then developing recommendations to improve resilience against EMP threats. Rather than eliminating existing protections, this executive action established a framework intended to consolidate EMP preparedness efforts across multiple federal agencies that had previously operated with limited coordination on the issue.

The order directly affects federal agencies responsible for national security, infrastructure protection, and emergency management, including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, and the intelligence community. Utility companies and critical infrastructure operators also face indirect effects through any recommendations the task force produces regarding private-sector compliance and investment in EMP hardening measures. Telecommunications providers, water systems operators, and financial institutions dependent on interconnected networks represent the broader ecosystem of entities potentially subject to new resilience requirements stemming from the task force's work.

This action reflects a broader pattern within the Trump administration of restructuring scientific and technical advisory mechanisms. Similar to the subsequent dissolution of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2025 and the termination of National Science Board members in the same period, this order reorganizes how scientific and technical expertise informs policy decisions. However, where those later actions reduced scientific input to executive decision-making, the EMP order specifically attempts to increase interagency coordination on a technical security matter. The contrast suggests an inconsistent approach to scientific advisory structures, coordinating some technical efforts while simultaneously dismantling longstanding science advisory institutions.

No major legal challenges have substantially impeded the order's implementation. The task force proceeded with its vulnerability assessments and developed recommendations, though the full scope and effectiveness of any resulting hardening initiatives remain difficult to assess publicly. The order remains active and on the books, with its coordinating mechanisms presumably continuing under subsequent administrations absent explicit revocation.