I work for a government agency, and we have to deal with these from time to time.
As to Niels, I wish I was sarcastic, but I wasn't making any of it up. They are 'considered' munitions, and are treated as such, but really, it's just a matter of what happens if the phone got into the wrong hands. They do have a remote kill feature, but that incurs delay, and isn't foolproof.
As for the proprietary tapes, that may be true at some agencies, but I've only seen Travan tapes in use in practice.
As to Niels, I wish I was sarcastic, but I wasn't making any of it up. They are 'considered' munitions, and are treated as such, but really, it's just a matter of what happens if the phone got into the wrong hands. They do have a remote kill feature, but that incurs delay, and isn't foolproof.
As for the proprietary tapes, that may be true at some agencies, but I've only seen Travan tapes in use in practice.