The rule, aimed at cracking down on leaks to media organizations, would expand nondisclosure agreements instituted at the Pentagon and other agencies.
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The Trump administration is planning a government-wide nondisclosure agreement that would bar federal workers from sharing a wide array of “confidential government information,” according to a draft notice posted to the Federal Register on Tuesday by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
The draft notice, which will be published Wednesday and stay open for a 30-day public comment period, uses an expansive definition of privileged information, beyond typical classified and unclassified designations. The draft blocks employees from sharing “non-public, confidential, or proprietary information” or “any sensitive, pre-decisional or deliberative material that is not currently publicly available and should not be disclosed under applicable law.”
Agencies can decide whether to adopt the NDA, according to the draft.
New York Times Executive Editor Joe Kahn previously disputed that the publication had sensitive information about the mission that required it to delay its story. “Contrary to some claims, however, The Times did not have verified details about the pending operation to capture Maduro or a story prepared, nor did we withhold publication at the request of the Trump administration,” Kahn said in a January explainer on the Times’s website.
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A spokesman for the Times declined to comment further on Tuesday. Spokespeople for OPM and The Post did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Pentagon imposed NDAs and random polygraph testing as part of a broader effort last year to deter and, critics claimed, root out leaks and those deemed insufficiently loyal. The Department of Veterans Affairs also required officials working on layoff plans last year to sign agreements, keeping much of its workforce in the dark about mass firing plans, which were later canceled.
There are legal limitations to the use of NDAs in government. Under a federal law that protects whistleblowers, these agreements cannot limit a civil servant’s ability to expose waste, fraud and abuse.
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