The Trump administration is proposing NDAs to federal employees to stop leaks
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The Trump administration is pushing ahead with a proposal that federal agencies use standard nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) with employees as part of a broader plan to keep internal discussions from leaking to the media.
“This is going through a full regulatory process, so people can provide notices and comments,” Office of Personnel Management (OPM) director Scott Kupor told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview Wednesday. “We will respond to all those things and … I would be surprised, if in the end, we do not succeed in showing people that this is important in maintaining the intended decisions in the government.”
The proposal would create an NDA template for government agencies to use with employees, requiring employees to agree to existing privacy laws as the Trump administration tightens its crackdown on internal leaks following incidents including leaks of the Venezuela attack and the discrediting of ICE agents. Officials have said the policy is intended to protect sensitive internal communications, while critics question whether it might protect bad actors and employee speech.
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The Trump administration is lifting NDAs on current government employees to prevent internal leaks to the media, OPM director says. (Mark Schifelbein/AP)
Kupor pointed to a “simple example” of why he says NDAs are necessary. OPM serves as the federal government’s human resources agency, overseeing personnel policy and labor regulations for federal employees.
“I had a meeting today … we had 10 people in the room … it’s really hard to run an organization when we have a conversation and nine of those 10 people call the media and say, ‘hey, let me tell you what we talked about in this conversation.’
“It just puts us in a situation where you can’t manage the organization. You can’t have a meaningful conversation with your team. It’s fragmenting decision-making in an environment that I don’t think is good for anybody,” he added.
Government employees are already required to protect certain confidential and sensitive government information obtained through their work. OPM said the proposed NDA would not create new strict restrictions on employee speech, but instead would establish a standardized process for federal employees to agree to existing legal and regulatory obligations regarding confidential information.
Kupor said the NDA’s proposal is to encourage open and honest dialogue in meetings.
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“We’re just trying to avoid situations where people feel like they can’t express their opinion at a meeting because they’re afraid it will appear on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow. I don’t think that helps us actually manage organizations on behalf of the American people,” said Kupor.
Critics say the agency is expanding oversight in an effort to control damaging narratives from inside the administration.
Gilbert Employment Law, who specializes in government employment issues, partner Kevin Owen told the Government Council that “OPM is now trying to become this executive office that puts its authority over all government employees, apparently at the direction of the White House. Now it controls how government employees can talk about issues of political concern, it’s one more step in making the White House political system a prey.”
The proposal also said the agreement would expressly preserve employees’ rights to make disclosures mandated under federal law, including protected whistleblower complaints.
Kupor said the NDA’s proposal is to encourage open and honest dialogue in meetings. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“I think people are thinking [it’s] it’s another way to remove people, or we’re trying to stop people from speaking what they want,” said Kupor. “That’s something that’s far from the truth. People can say whatever they want. The problem is, when we have a discussion at work … I think it makes sense for us that you shouldn’t go and publish what is a discussion process out there.”
Kupor said the administration should be able to conduct negotiations without leaks to the media and, once decided, reporters can FOIA the information.
“People can apply to [U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board] and so on and so forth. That’s how we work today. We do not take away any rights that a person has for any other type of negative actions related to the workplace,” said Kupor.
Kupor said he was not sure if the proposal was discussed during the first Trump administration or under previous administrations but said the rapid expansion of the media has made organizations vulnerable to leaks.
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The NDA proposal filed in the Federal Register cites recent events such as the raids in Venezuela and the kidnapping of ICE agents as reasons for the move. (John Moore/Getty Images)
“Especially with the growth of social media and everything else, [federal employees] they feel like they want to help people outside the world, understand what we are doing. And none of this is intended to stop that. It’s just meant to allow us to have an open, honest conversation between people. And if people want to be citizen journalists, they can do that,” said Kupor.
With the Trump administration already facing a series of legal challenges to its policy agenda, Kupor said he expects the NDA proposal to be reconsidered.
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of lawyers and organizations that live by finding anything they don’t like about the Trump administration and suing. But this time I feel very comfortable,” he said.
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The proposal is open for public comment on or before June 26, according to OPM.
