The Trump administration is floating the adoption of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) policy for employees to have access to sensitive information.
According to a policy notice set to be published in the Federal Register, the Office of Personnel Management “believes that a governmentwide NDA form will promote consistency across Government, better protect confidential information, and better inform Federal employees of their rights and obligations regarding confidential information.”
“Federal employees do not have discretion to disclose Confidential Government Information outside of narrow circumstances prescribed by relevant authorities and implemented by procedures which may differ by agency.” The notice states that there have been “several recent instances in which internal agency communications related to rulemaking and policy development were disclosed without authorization.” These disclosures “risk chilling candid interagency feedback, disrupting orderly decision-making, and weakening trust within and among Federal agencies.”
In recent months, employees of the FBI and DHS disclosed immigration enforcement actions that endangered the lives of federal agents, the document explains.
The issue of information sharing is “so widespread that the Supreme Court itself has instituted the use of nondisclosure agreements to attempt to dissuade staff from the harmful practice of disclosing Confidential Government Information and as a means to hold individuals accountable for such behavior,” the notice adds.
Scott Kupor, Director of the OPM, said in a statement that the NDA template comes as “Americans should be able to trust that their personal data and sensitive government information are being handled responsibly.”
“This proposal reinforces accountability across the federal workforce while helping agencies better protect against unauthorized disclosures,” he said.
Earlier this year, President Trump urged media outlets to identify a government leaker who disclosed details of an Iran rescue mission while the operation was still underway, warning that reporters who refuse to name their source could face jail time on national security grounds.
“We’re looking very hard to find that leaker,” Trump told reporters. “Whoever it was, we think we’ll be able to find it out because we’re going to go to the media company that released it and we’re going to say, ‘National security, give it up or go to jail.’”
