Trump administration proposes having all federal workers sign NDAs

Key Points:

• The White House is proposing a government-wide nondisclosure agreement (NDA) to prevent federal employees from sharing confidential government information, aiming to reduce leaks to the media.
• The draft NDA, posted by the Office of Personnel Management, would require federal workers to safeguard non-public information related to their official duties, with agencies having the option to implement it after a 30-day comment period.
• The proposal follows previous Trump administration efforts to tighten information control, including Pentagon mandates for NDAs, and cites unauthorized disclosures to media about a US raid in Venezuela and the leaking of personal data of thousands of ICE personnel.
• While the draft claims it will not impose new substantive restrictions or impede whistleblower rights, the largest federal employee union, AFGE, criticized it as overly broad and an attempt to silence workers and replace career employees with loyalists.
• The union warned the administration may enforce the NDA aggressively, potentially firing employees who refuse to sign, and emphasized that federal employees retain their First Amendment rights to speak out against government abuses.