US Marshals Lose Track of Thousands of Encrypted Radios
The U.S. Marshals Service has lost track of approximately 2,000 encrypted two-way radios and other communication devices worth millions of dollars in total, according to The Wall Street Journal. This, internal agency documents report, create what some within the agency view as a security risk for federal judges, endangered witnesses and others.
Even back when the devices were first deployed in 2011, agency leaders had difficulty tracking the equipment even after being warned about the problems by an internal technology office, according to documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. Radios range from about $2,000 to $5,000 each or more. After a nationwide inventory, about 2,200 communications items were missing or accounted for. Several officials since then say that one internal count has continued to grow to more than 4,000 items.