To stop leaks, the Trump administration wants federal workers to sign NDAs

The Trump administration proposes a new government-wide nondisclosure agreement for both new federal employees and current employees. The Office of Personnel Management says recent leaks about immigration enforcement actions and a secretive U.S. raid on Venezuela show that disclosures can endanger federal agents and members of the armed forces. OPM plans to publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register and states the NDA does not create new substantive restrictions on employee speech or disclosure rights, but standardizes acknowledgment of existing obligations. Some federal insiders dispute that characterization, describing the NDA as a broad add-on that could further restrict employees. OPM did not immediately respond to questions about the proposal.

"The Trump administration has proposed introducing a new government-wide nondisclosure agreement, or NDA, for both new employees and those already serving. Recent leaks about immigration enforcement actions and the secretive U.S. raid on Venezuela underscore the need for NDAs, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) writes in a proposed rule scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. OPM asserts those disclosures put the lives of federal agents and members of the armed forces at risk."

"The roughly 2 million people who work for the federal government are already required to safeguard confidential and proprietary information obtained on the job. OPM says its proposal "does not create new substantive restrictions on employee speech or disclosure rights," but instead provides a standardized way for federal workers to acknowledge and agree to their existing obligations. But some people familiar with the inner workings of the federal government dispute that characterization."

""This seems to be a new add-on that seems to be very, very broad in nature," says Ray Limon, who served as an attorney and human resources leader in the federal government for nearly three decades. "I'm just adding this to another tranche of measures that they're taking to step on the throat of the employee." OPM did not immediately respond to NPR's questions about the proposed rule."

"NDAs are widespread in the private sector and already used selectively throughout the government, including in areas involving national security. But the vast majority of civil servants who handle the unclassified, routine work of the governm"

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