Oversight
Watchdog: Hiring freeze increased cyber risk at State
An extended hiring freeze at the Department of State delayed key cybersecurity initiatives and placed highly classified information at risk according to a watchdog report.
The State Department elected to extend the governmentwide civilian hiring freeze, launched at the start of the Trump Administration for more than a year after the White House announced its end in April, 2017. According to a new report from the State Department Office of Inspector General, the freeze not only had a highly debilitating effect on employee morale but also put the agency’s IT systems – including classified systems – at increased risk
The Bureau of Information Resource Management told the IG that the hiring freeze led to the delay of information assurance reviews, delayed the launch of an encryption initiative and pushed back the start date of planned identity management system by 18 months.
The report states that IRM was unable to fill two senior cybersecurity positions with Senior Executive Service members, delaying…
