USAID is dead, but some departing staffers’ government phones still work

The United States Agency for International Development is effectively shut down, but sources say some government cellphones are still operational and that not all devices were remotely wiped by the agency, leaving employees to do it themselves. 

“We kept service active to ensure seamless communications for select individuals still at the agency who were assisting with USAID drawdown,” a senior State Department spokesperson told FedScoop when asked about some still-active eSIM cards. “This was an intentional decision to maintain our commitment of prioritizing personnel safety.”

They added: “We will also note that the accounts and access to government information was limited for departing personnel and we are working to deactivate any SIM cards and other technology as part of an orderly winddown of the organization.”

Back in April — after USAID’s IT staff was whittled down to just a handful of people — the agency told employees that their devices would be cleansed around employees’ reduction-in-force dates. Once that happened, employees were allowed to “dispose of the assets,” a memo to employees stated. 

Now, multiple sources told FedScoop that the eSIMs are still active on some USAID phones. One person who is no longer doing work for the agency — but set to be officially offboarded in September — also said their phone still makes calls. 

Some of the sources said they had to take it upon themselves to wipe the phones, which had not yet been remotely wiped by the agency. USAID had in the past sent specific instructions to employees notifying them of when their phones, iPads, Windows laptops and Macbooks would be remotely wiped — and how to return the device to factory settings, according to a second memo viewed by FedScoop. 

That memo also noted that should the remote wipe fail, people would have to manually wipe the device themselves.