The US State Department’s hiring freeze in 2017, ordered by Rex Tillerson, its leader at the time, caused staffing shortages that “placed at risk highly classified information,” among other issues. That’s according to an Inspector General’s report released today (pdf) that lays out a broad range of deleterious impacts the freeze had on America’s diplomatic corps.
An unidentified bureau within the State Department “worked with Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information systems,” and members of it told the IG’s office that “extended vacancies in its information security positions” had endangered the data, the report states.
Another bureau explained it was unable to fill an Information Systems Security Officer position for the entire duration of the 16-month freeze, which, the report says, “affected its ability to ensure IT security for a major Department system.”
A State Department data-encryption initiative was also delayed due to the freeze, as was the implementation of an identity-management system, an enterprise risk management program, and the development of “tools and procedures to react and respond to malicious cyber activity targeting…
