<p>That's a good question. I don't remember seeing him classified as an asset in previous seasons. If I remember right, Reese was listed as an asset way back in season 1 (just with different graphics), but Harold has generally been classified as "admin". If that's true, maybe the change in Harold's status has something to do with his communication with the machine. We'll have to wait and see... </p>

Maybe Harold had a talk with the machine off screen.