WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday said it would pause leases for five wind farms under construction off the East Coast, a major escalation of President Donald Trump’s crusade against offshore wind power.

Citing unspecified national security concerns, Doug Burgum, the secretary of the interior, said in a statement that “the prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people.” He said the decision “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.”

Trump has repeatedly called offshore wind turbines ugly, costly and inefficient. The Interior Department’s decision could effectively prevent the continued construction or operation of the projects, jeopardizing billions of dollars that have already been invested.

The five projects are Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind off Virginia, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind off New York, and Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut. The leases had been awarded and the projects vetted by the Biden administration.

Representatives for the five projects’ developers, including Danish energy giant Orsted, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Interior Department’s description of its decision said the Pentagon had produced classified reports that found the wind farms posed national security risks and that an unclassified report from the Energy Department had found that wind farms could interfere with radar systems.

Vineyard Wind 1 is currently under construction and partially operational, with about half of the project’s 62 turbines sending power to the electric grid as of October. Once complete, the project could produce enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind had escaped the Trump administration’s ire for months, in part because of strong support from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. Its fate became uncertain after Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democrat, won the Virginia governor’s race in November.

Empire Wind has had an on-again, off-again relationship with the Trump administration. In April, the Interior Department ordered that construction be stopped on Empire Wind, pushing the $5 billion project to the brink of collapse. After several weeks and negotiations with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, the administration allowed the project to proceed, at least until now.

On the first day of his second presidential term, Trump issued a sweeping executive order halting all leasing of federal lands and waters for new wind farms. His administration has since gone after wind farms that had received permits from the Biden administration and were either under construction or about to start.

The administration’s approach has suffered some legal setbacks. A federal judge this month struck down the halt on leasing mandated by the January order, saying it was “arbitrary and capricious,” violating federal law.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Maxine Joselow and Lisa Friedman/Eze Amos
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