The US Agency for International Development decides not to collect abandoned devices for former workers

An email sent by the United States Agency for International Development to the workers on Thursday and obtained it freedom He says that devices will be wiped away, then “distinguished”. Every direct rental or contractor will be responsible for ignoring the equipment. It is not clear from e -mail whether the decision affects people abroad or only from within the continental United States.

Some former employees were waiting for months to send devices before announcing the change in the plan yesterday. Soon after leaving his post, President Donald Trump Foreign aid financing freezes and closed Almost all the American Agency for International Development. The majority of the 10,000 United States Agency employees are deployed. The workers who were completed while working abroad were told that they would get shipping stickers to return the equipment, but they have never obtained them, freedom I mentioned last month.

A US employee described a random process to restore the laptop to their office in late February, while throwing computers in giant garbage boxes. Electronic waste often contains dangerous materials including lead or mercury that can come out of waste burials, so it is illegal In many states and In Washington, DC To throw some electronics in the trash.

The delay in the collection of these devices is put forward security concerns for the Trump administration, former federal workers and partner organizations. Some workers were still able to reach work accounts and e -mail on these devices, even after finishing. Devices may also contain employee records, sensitive contact information and even bank details used to facilitate payments. Abandoning these devices with former workers put responsibility for them to maintain all this information safe and safe.

Wiping these devices remotely reduces the risks. It is a procedure that federal agencies can usually take to protect data on any missing or stolen devices, according to a former government official freedom He spoke in March, whose identity was not disclosed to discuss sensitive issues.

But once the tools are eliminated, former employees say the devices will need a new operating system to be able to work. Ended employees will not be able to use PIVs (PIVs) that allows someone to log in to a US International Development Computer. The neglected devices are essentially trash. “Isn’t this just waste (thus). They will all be unusual for use,” a former USA employee. freedom.

Federal employees usually restore the equipment after leaving a post, and these devices are often reserved to other employees, other federal agencies or partner organizations. It may also be donated to government and local agencies, I was sent to the auctionOr send it to the safe disposal facility. According to Federal Regulations BlogHowever, the equipment of less than $ 10,000 can also be kept, sold or eliminated in another way without any other responsibility towards the Federal Agency. “

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which absorbed any US Agency for the remaining International Development, refused to comment. Email obtained by freedom He says that a decision is no longer asking the former employees to restore their physical equipment to “simplify the operations and reduce the burden.”

Mia Sato contributed to the reports.