No one, knucklehead or otherwise, should be allowed to decide to connect their laptop to the network of a security-related agency! The agency's firewalls and routers and servers should all be default-set to deny access, period, without a rigorously-encrypted password AND verification that the laptop's anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are current.

My company's servers are set to automatically check for and download anti-virus and anti-spyware updates every four hours. Those servers then automatically update all connected client computers on our networks within minutes of the updates' arrival. A computer that was not connected to the network when the update disseminates is blocked from accessing any part of the network except for the anti-virus update module. Until its anti-virus status matches the server's, no other connectivity is permitted.

If our comparatively small civilian operation can handle this security issue, I don't understand why a major government agency shouldn't be able to do the same.