The Office of Personnel Management is proposing a rule to require federal workers to sign nondisclosure agreements, according to a draft notice posted Tuesday. The administration says the NDA is necessary to combat “unauthorized disclosures” to the media, citing in part reporting last year about OPM’s controversial efforts to make it easier to fire government employees.
“OPM 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,” the notice says.
It also warns that unauthorized disclosures risk “chilling candid interagency feedback, disrupting orderly decision-making, and weakening trust within and among Federal agencies.”
Violations of the NDA by current and former employees could result in civil and criminal penalties.
The Fine Print (and the Fear)
The notice says NDAs would not deter employees from making legally allowed “disclosures to Congress, an Inspector General, or other designated individuals that are protected under the Whistleblower Protection Act.” But the administration has been accused of ignoring those protections previously, including when it placed 15 workers on indefinite leave from FEMA who had warned about the impact mass layoffs were having at the agency. They were later reinstated.
Mark Zaid, the Washington-based attorney who co-founded the advocacy group Whistleblower Aid, said in an email that the language in the proposed NDA “would not create any new legal obligations for federal employees, nor limit any ability to lawfully whistleblow, which can include providing certain information to the media.”
But he said he thinks that is the likely goal.
“It would appear this new effort serves only the purpose of trying to induce fear and intimidate the workforce so as to stop unauthorized but lawful disclosures of information that has often resulted in negative publicity for the Administration,” Zaid said.
In other words, the NDA may not be legally enforceable against whistleblowers. But it might scare them into silence anyway.
The Union Response
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union would oppose the move, which he called a continuation of OPM’s “efforts to silence federal employees.”
“OPM claims the form will be ‘optional’ for agencies to use and merely restates existing law. We know that will not be true. OPM will pressure agencies to make the NDA mandatory and then fire employees who refuse to sign it,” he said in a statement.
“Federal employees do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they accept federal employment, and the public has a right to know about this administration’s abuses.”
The rule will be officially published on Wednesday, setting off a 30-day public comment period. The notice says individual agencies would have discretion whether to use the NDA.
“Should agencies elect to use the NDA, it would be administered to newly hired employees as part of the onboarding process and to current Federal employees,” the notice says.
The Administration’s Defense
OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a statement that in the private sector, “employees handling sensitive business or customer information are routinely required to sign confidentiality agreements, and the federal government should not be held to a lower standard.”
“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 added.
President Trump has sometimes used NDAs in his business and even in his first presidential campaign. He has repeatedly vowed to get rid of “leakers” in the federal government. Some members of his Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, have been aggressive in their efforts to track down the sources of leaks in their ranks.
This proposal would extend that effort across the entire federal workforce.
The Bottom Line
The Trump administration is proposing a rule to require all federal workers to sign nondisclosure agreements. The administration says it is needed to combat unauthorized disclosures to the media. Violations could result in civil and criminal penalties. The NDA would not technically override whistleblower protections, but critics say the goal is to induce fear and intimidate the workforce into silence.
The rule will be officially published on Wednesday, triggering a 30-day public comment period. Agencies would have discretion whether to use the NDA. The largest federal employees union has vowed to oppose the move, calling it an effort to silence federal workers and hide administration abuses.
Federal employees do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they accept a government job. But under this proposal, they might think twice before exercising them.
