President Joe Biden issued an executive order to protect Americans' sensitive personal data — including health data — from countries of concern.
Bad actors can use personal and sensitive data to "track Americans (including military service members), pry into their personal lives and pass that data on to other data brokers and foreign intelligence services. This data can enable intrusive surveillance, scams, blackmail and other violations of privacy," according to a Feb. 28 White House news release.
From a healthcare perspective, the president is directing HHS, the Defense Department and and the Department of Veterans Affairs to help ensure that federal grants, contracts and awards are not used to facilitate access to Americans' health data by countries of concern, including through companies located in the U.S.