Originally Posted by flyerguy99

The US govt will sure be making life difficult for its own employees, diplomats, and soldiers if they impose this.

I know some US diplomatic staff in countries affected by the initial ban. It turns out there is a hard and fast policy that US govt-owned electronics with sensitive data must be carried in person, not put in checked luggage. "Sensitive" extends considerably farther than "classified" in this context -- e.g., a laptop with human resources data, or proprietary information from a regulated firm or contractor bid. It's a low threshold, though it doesn't include all US govt equipment (e.g., if someone takes a blank laptop just to access remote email).

The rule is firm enough that these federal employees were instructed that if they were planning travel with sensitive government equipment, cancel existing reservations on affected flights and rebook connecting routes via Europe, even though that would mean higher fares and not using GSA city-pair contracts where available.

If it becomes essentially impossible to travel internationally with electronics on your person, I'm not sure how the US govt plans to resolve that -- rules for federal employees on protecting devices have been getting tighter, not looser.