Executive Order 13848 – September 12, 2018

Executive Order 13848: Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election was signed by President Donald Trump on September 12, 2018. Its purpose is to establish a process for identifying foreign interference in U.S. federal elections and authorizing sanctions against those responsible.

Executive Summary

The order declares that foreign interference in U.S. elections constitutes a national emergency because it threatens national security and public confidence in the democratic process. It specifically addresses actions by foreign governments or their agents—not domestic election disputes.

Key Provisions

1. Intelligence Assessment (within 45 days after a federal election)

• The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) must assess whether a foreign government or its agents attempted to interfere in the election.
• The assessment must identify:
  • The nature of the interference.
  • The methods used.
  • The people or organizations involved.
  • Which foreign government authorized or supported the activity.

2. Agency Report
After the DNI assessment:

• The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security prepare an additional report evaluating:
  • Whether election infrastructure was targeted.
  • Whether campaign infrastructure was targeted.
  • The impact of any foreign interference on election security.

3. Sanctions
If foreign interference is determined to have occurred, the Secretary of the Treasury (in consultation with other agencies) may impose sanctions such as:

• Freezing assets under U.S. jurisdiction.
• Blocking financial transactions.
• Restricting investments.
• Export restrictions.
• Visa restrictions.
• Other measures authorized by law.

4. Additional Recommendations
The Secretaries of State and Treasury may recommend broader sanctions against significant companies or sectors of a foreign country whose government sponsored or directed the interference.

What Counts as “Foreign Interference”

The order defines foreign interference broadly to include covert, deceptive, fraudulent, or unlawful actions by a foreign government or its agents intended to:

• Influence an election.
• Alter the reported result.
• Undermine confidence in election processes or institutions.
• Spread covert propaganda or disinformation.

Important Clarification

One frequently misunderstood sentence in the order states:

“Although there has been no evidence of a foreign power altering the outcome or vote tabulation in any United States election…”

This language refers to the President’s findings at the time the order was issued in 2018. It is not a declaration that foreign interference has never occurred. The order was specifically created because the administration concluded that foreign governments could attempt to influence U.S. elections through cyber operations, propaganda, and other means.

What the Executive Order Does Not Do

The order does not:

• Automatically invalidate election results.
• Authorize the President to seize voting machines.
• Permit the President to rerun elections.
• Declare martial law.
• Give the President authority to overturn election outcomes.

Instead, it establishes an investigative and sanctions framework directed at foreign actors and requires federal agencies to evaluate and respond to foreign election interference.

Bottom Line

Executive Order 13848 is fundamentally a national security and foreign sanctions order. It creates a formal process for:

1. Investigating foreign interference after each federal election.
2. Reporting findings to the President.
3. Imposing economic and diplomatic sanctions on foreign governments, organizations, or individuals responsible for that interference.

It is not an executive order that grants authority to change or overturn U.S. election results.

Executive Order 13848 does address people and organizations beyond foreign governments, but it does so in a specific way. It is focused on those who assist, sponsor, conceal, or materially support foreign election interference, not on the media as a class.

The order authorizes sanctions against individuals or entities that:

• Have directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or been complicit in foreign election interference.
• Have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for such interference.
• Are owned or controlled by, or act on behalf of, sanctioned foreign persons or entities.

This means that, in principle, if a company, organization, or individual—including a media organization—knowingly provided material support to a foreign interference operation, they could potentially fall within the scope of the order. However, the order itself does not single out the media, nor does it state that journalists, news organizations, or social media platforms are automatically subject to sanctions.

It’s also important to distinguish between:

• Reporting on or discussing election-related issues, which is generally protected by the First Amendment in the U.S.
• Knowingly acting on behalf of or materially supporting a foreign government’s interference campaign, which is what the executive order targets.

The order is also primarily a sanctions tool. It authorizes measures such as blocking property and restricting transactions against designated foreign persons and those who materially support them. It does not create new criminal offenses, authorize arrests, or establish procedures for prosecuting domestic actors. Criminal prosecutions, if warranted, would have to rely on existing federal laws (such as those concerning espionage, conspiracy, campaign finance, fraud, or acting as an unregistered foreign agent), not on Executive Order 13848 itself.

If your question is about a specific claim you’ve seen—for example, that the order allows action against “the media,” “deep state actors,” or other domestic groups—I can explain which parts of the claim are supported by the text of the order and which are not.