President Donald Trump’s Department of Interior announced on Monday that, effective immediately, leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the United States will be paused.
In a press release, DOI wrote that the pause is due to “national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports.”
This pause will give the Department, along with the Department of War and other relevant government agencies, time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.
“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in the press release.
“Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers. The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people.”
The Department of Interior listed on its website the five leases that will be paused, highlighting that “unclassified reports from the U.S. government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called clutter.”
As stated in the press release: “The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects.”
In 2024, a Department of Energy report stated that a radar’s threshold for false alarm detection can be increased to reduce some clutter, but an increased detection threshold could cause the radar to “miss actual targets.”
“Today’s action ensures that national security risks posed by offshore wind projects are appropriately addressed and that the United States government retains its ability to effectively defend the American people,” the press release states.
