Trump administration wants federal workers to sign NDAs

Trump administration wants federal workers to sign NDAs1 hour agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGrace Eliza GoodwinAFP via Getty ImagesThe Trump administration is proposing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) for US government workers in an attempt to curb leaks to the press.The federal personnel office published a draft of the proposed agreement for new and current federal workers with a notice that says media leaks "risk chilling candid interagency feedback, disrupting orderly decision-making, and weakening trust within and among Federal agencies".The Trump administration has said disclosures to the media ahead of the US raid in Venezuela risked US lives.Experts say the agreements expand on those typical for workers handling sensitive information and could draw legal challenges. One union warns they could chill free speech.The US Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, said the NDAs do not create "new substantive restrictions on employee speech or disclosure rights" and "expressly" preserve employees' "rights to make disclosures authorized by law, including protected whistleblower disclosures"."The form is intended to document Federal employees' acknowledgment of, and agreement to comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard non-public, confidential, or proprietary information," the notice said.The public will have 30 days to submit feedback on the proposed agreement before it can be finalised and deployed. It's already drawing criticism from the largest union of federal workers. Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees said he expects they will be mandatory across the government, even as the Trump administration claims agencies can opt not to require employees sign them. "OPM will pressure agencies to make the NDA mandatory and then fire employees who refuse to sign it," Kelley asserted.He accused the administration of trying to "si...