USAID staff on leave find little clarity on how to manage devices

The federal government is not pushing to recover hardware that some USAID staff members received before the agency was effectively closed in February, a perplexing decision that raises concerns about security.

Two USAID staffers currently on paid administrative leave, who spoke with IT Brew on the condition of anonymity, said that their devices are still in their possession. The administration has not given clear instructions on how to return the hardware, they told IT Brew, leaving them in limbo. Complicating things is the ongoing legal wrangling over the constitutionality of the administration’s shuttering of the agency in the first place.

Without clarity, the devices remain in the sources’ homes. However, one source told IT Brew that they were told in a meeting their government-issued devices should be treated as “hot mics,” though they emphasized that it was unclear where this information came from originally.

Leaving it. As The Verge reported on Mar. 19, USAID staffers dismissed from their positions are also finding it hard to understand how they are supposed to return their hardware. Because of the sensitivity of their work and the delay in getting information, managing security on those devices is their responsibility—hardly an easy position to be put in, as Megan Stifel, Institute for Security and Technology chief strategy officer and Ransomware Task Force executive director, told The Verge.

“Unfortunately, these folks have been put [in an] unprecedented situation where they may or may not have access to the security support of the government, but yet they’re still responsible for maintaining the security of these devices wherever they’re going,” Stifel said. “So, it’s really like a catch-22.”

Big brother. The other staffer on leave told IT Brew that they still have their hardware and computers because they could be called back to work at any time, although there is still no sign of when that might happen, nor how they would be notified. Currently, they have no access to any internal systems.