{"id":767325,"date":"2026-07-17T00:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T00:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/767325\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T00:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T00:50:15","slug":"trump-stops-offshore-wind-development-while-citing-national-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/767325\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump stops offshore wind development while citing national security"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has worked to stop offshore wind development<\/a> on the grounds that it\u2019s a national security risk since late last year.<\/p>\n

It halted work on major projects<\/a>, and it\u2019s buying back leases<\/a>, citing national security concerns. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says a classified report from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proves offshore wind is a national security threat.<\/p>\n

This comes against the backdrop of the Republican president\u2019s hatred of wind turbines<\/a> and desire to boost fossil fuels<\/a> for \u201cenergy dominance\u201d<\/a> in the global market. National lab estimates show<\/a> that turbines installed along the U.S. coasts could provide more than enough power to cover the nation\u2019s annual electricity consumption.<\/p>\n

Wind turbines interfere with radar, but that isn\u2019t a new problem. The Pentagon reviews wind farm construction plans and can deem areas off limits. There are upgrades to radar to mitigate turbine impacts.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to know about the national security implications of offshore wind development:<\/p>\n

Turbines\u2019 spinning blades can create false targets on radar screens<\/p>\n

Burgum says he\u2019s worried about autonomous drones going through a wind tower field undetected because of radar interference. And, he said, the vibration of wind towers could affect undersea sonar. <\/p>\n

Radar systems can be adjusted to raise the threshold for what\u2019s considered a detection but may miss actual targets consequently, according to the Department of Energy.<\/p>\n

Kirk Lippold, a national security expert and former commander of the USS Cole, said radar operators are trained to differentiate a live track \u2014 anything from a boat or a submarine periscope to an inbound drone or missile \u2014 from clutter. If drones aren\u2019t detected before they reach a wind farm, \u201cwe have bigger national security issues,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Trump administration says there are new risks<\/p>\n

According to the Department of Justice, defense officials gave the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management classified information in November 2025 detailing new national security risks from offshore wind projects. <\/p>\n

BOEM halted construction on five big East Coast projects<\/a> days before Christmas. Burgum said they had to address the rapid evolution of relevant adversary technologies and vulnerabilities created by these projects near East Coast cities. This came after courts blocked Trump\u2019s efforts<\/a> to halt development through executive action. <\/p>\n

Like the United States, Sweden is raising security concerns with offshore wind energy. Officials said Thursday they\u2019re approving two offshore wind farms while rejecting 11 others. <\/p>\n

Green Power Sweden CEO Nils Grunditz said he questions why Sweden is scaling back its offshore wind plans when technological solutions for radar interference are used elsewhere in the region. Denmark has been a pioneer in wind energy since building the first offshore wind farm in 1991.<\/p>\n

The UK government said in March it bought new air defense radars to mitigate against anomalies created by offshore wind farms, touting it as new technology that secures coexistence of air defense and offshore wind. The independent climate change think tank E3G said North Sea turbines can be a defense asset, for example by including surveillance and monitoring equipment.<\/p>\n

Judges were not convinced by the Trump administration<\/p>\n

Developers impacted by the construction freeze<\/a> and states sued. The DOJ argued national security concerns are paramount and federal courts do not second-guess military officials\u2019 assessment of these risks. <\/p>\n

Federal judges reviewed the classified information and allowed all five wind farms to resume construction<\/a>. <\/p>\n

At the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Senior Judge Royce Lamberth expressed concern that the stated national security reasoning may have been \u201cpretextual,\u201d to mask the true motives for stopping offshore wind. <\/p>\n

In putting a major wind farm<\/a> for Rhode Island and Connecticut back on track in January, Lamberth said the government did not apply the newly discovered concerns specifically to that project, Revolution Wind, Burgum publicly criticized offshore wind around the time of the stop work order for reasons unrelated to national security, and BOEM waited to act until December on information it received in November.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon is also holding up the development<\/a> of onshore wind farms, and the administration has used emergency orders to keep fossil fuel plants online. On Thursday, attorneys general from 18 states and Washington moved to intervene in a lawsuit to try to advance the onshore wind farms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meghan Greenfield, a partner at Jenner & Block LLP in Washington, said the administration is making a national security argument in so many different contexts, \u201cit has caused increased skepticism by the courts.\u201d <\/p>\n

A retired Navy officer is suspicious of the administration\u2019s motives<\/p>\n

In buying back offshore wind leases<\/a>, the Interior Department cited national security concerns with the projects, including those off California. The Interior Department said Thursday there were serious national security risks that demanded immediate attention, and it won\u2019t let \u201creckless projects create higher utility costs, a weakened energy system and unnecessary harm to the environment.\u201d Several states are suing<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn knows the waters off California\u2019s shore well. He commanded the fleet responsible for naval operations across the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean. He said there\u2019s no \u201cshowstopping national security issue\u201d that would invalidate years of analysis of the lease areas. <\/p>\n

McGinn said he thinks the administration is maximizing the risks and costs of offshore wind while minimizing the benefits to justify pursuing more fossil fuels and \u201cit doesn\u2019t pass commonsense tests.\u201d Offshore wind produces electricity cleanly. Oil, coal and natural gas emit carbon pollution when burned. <\/p>\n

McGinn, who served as an assistant secretary of the Navy, said that radar interference is a problem recognized early on and adequately addressed and that thousands of turbines are operating across Europe and Asia. <\/p>\n

\u201cNational security and offshore wind are compatible, if it is done right, in the right locations,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth disagrees. A distinguished fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Furchtgott-Roth said the defense issues have been known for decades, the military\u2019s views should be taken very seriously, the nation shouldn\u2019t be dependent on Chinese-made turbines, and gas, coal and nuclear provide affordable, reliable power. The administration is acting prudently, she said. <\/p>\n

Members of Congress were briefed<\/p>\n

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island said he participated in a classified briefing months ago and didn\u2019t find the reasoning compelling. Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is trying to include a measure in the defense bill that sets military policy to force a 180-day deadline for a military office known as the siting clearinghouse to evaluate wind projects and explain its conclusion. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to be able to produce a thoughtful and thorough analysis which justifies their decision,\u201d Reed said Wednesday. \u201cThat\u2019s the way to go.\u201d <\/p>\n

Even with that step, Reed said, this administration finds many ways to stop things it doesn\u2019t like and he expects the campaign against wind energy to continue.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has worked to stop offshore wind development on the grounds that it\u2019s a national…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,28,2356,1685,327797,327798,3505,12,5473,3321,793,28368,327795,327796,1576,5477,3,327794,71788,1572,111,880,104329,6804,39779,18904,795,21,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":["post-767325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-business","tag-california","tag-climate-and-environment","tag-dennis-mcginn","tag-diana-furchtgott-roth","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-doug-burgum","tag-energy-industry","tag-general-news","tag-green-technology","tag-kirk-lippold","tag-meghan-greenfield","tag-military-and-defense","tag-national-security","tag-news","tag-nils-grunditz","tag-north-sea","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-politics","tag-rhode-island","tag-royce-c-lamberth","tag-sweden","tag-sweden-government","tag-u-s-department-of-the-interior","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}