CREW submitted a comment to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), urging it to withdraw its proposed “Confidential Government Information Nondisclosure Agreement,” (NDA) which would likely discourage federal employees from making lawful disclosures. CREW is urging OPM to abandon all efforts that would interfere with Congress’s ability to conduct oversight or interfere with the press’s ability to perform First Amendment activities and report on matters of public interest. This new proposed NDA is another step in the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine transparency and accountability—and it should not be allowed to succeed.

Federal employees are already subject to laws, rules and restrictions regarding the disclosure of information that would be harmful to the federal government. These laws could subject federal employees to severe consequences, including criminal prosecution. 

Historically, the government’s use of NDAs has been directed at protecting against the unauthorized disclosure of classified national security information. This proposed NDA, which is much broader, appears to be an attempt to intimidate and silence executive branch employees from making potentially lawful disclosures. Not only does it fail to sufficiently define and limit what exactly constitutes “confidential government information,” it also purports to bar former employees from speaking about or sharing government information if they do not have written authorization to do so. 

OPM’s proposed NDA could have a chilling effect on whistleblowers, who have served an important function for our democracy since the Revolutionary War and the enactment of the first whistleblower protections by the Second Continental Congress in 1778. Today, this importance is recognized by the Whistleblower Protection Act, which provides protection for federal employees who bring waste, misconduct and corruption to light. Without lawful disclosures being made public by well-intentioned public servants, good government organizations like CREW will not have the information they need to bring litigation and recommend reforms that strengthen our institutions.

Since the beginning of the president’s second term, President Trump has systematically disrupted, weakened or eliminated guardrails meant to protect against waste, fraud and abuse within the executive branch. His administration has decimated the federal workforce, closed over 900 cases of federal program or procurement fraud and unlawfully fired 17 inspectors general. OPM’s draft NDA would undermine whistleblowers’ important role in bringing to light matters of concern that IGs and other government oversight entities, which have been under attack, are supposed to routinely investigate. OPM should withdraw this draft NDA and make every effort to ensure that federal employees are aware of their right and responsibility to lawfully blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse.

Read the comment here

Photo of OPM headquarters by G. Edward Johnson under Creative Commons license

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