USAID decides not to collect former workers’ abandoned devices

Image: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Washington, D.C., draped in black and displaying the former president’s photograph shortly after he died on June 5, 2004. Image credit: Carol M. Highsmith – US Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID highsm.16466. Public Domain. Article by Justine Calma. The Verge – April 25, 2025.

After stranding former US Agency for International Development (USAID) workers with devices holding sensitive information, the Trump administration says it will no longer physically collect their government-issued phones, laptops, and tablets. An email sent by USAID to workers on Thursday and obtained by The Verge says the devices will be wiped remotely, and then “marked as disposed.” Each direct hire or contractor will then be responsible for discarding the equipment. It’s unclear from the email whether the decision affects people stationed abroad or only those within the continental US. […]

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