US government lifts foreign contractor ban

The US Department of Defense has reconsidered a ban on employing foreign IT contractors.

The ruling, introduced in March, prevented foreign IT workers employed by the US federal government from handling certain information, even that categorised as unclassified.

But in a U-turn the Department of Defense has now ruled that non-US IT workers can be hired by government agencies if they pass background investigations and get letters of approval from the agency head looking to employ them.

However, the department said it would still encourage agencies to first consider US candidates for positions that involved handling sensitive information.