Get detailed information about a specific recipient/contractor including their award history
AI agents call get_recipient_details to retrieve information from USASpending MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
The tool queries and returns historical award information about contractors from a public government database. This is a read-only operation with no side effects, data modification, or external command execution. The blast radius of misuse is minimal—an agent could retrieve information about many contractors, but cannot modify records, execute operations, or cause financial impact.
From the tool's definition Tool retrieves 'detailed information about a specific recipient/contractor including their award history' from USASpending.gov API; uses 'Get' verb and performs data retrieval only without modification or execution.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Get detailed information about a specific recipient/contractor including their award history. It is categorised as a Read tool in the USASpending MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the USASpending MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_recipient_details: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches USASpending MCP Server. Nothing to install.
get_recipient_details is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the get_recipient_details rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for get_recipient_details. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
get_recipient_details is provided by the USASpending MCP Server MCP server (khowabunga/usaspending-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Every MCP server has a record like this.
Type a name, get the same breakdown: verified identity, auth posture, risk grade, capabilities, recommended policy.
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