Administration Proposes NDAs For Federal Employees This Week | JQJO

Washington. The Office of Personnel Management filed a notice in the Federal Register on Tuesday proposing a standardized nondisclosure agreement for both new and existing federal employees. OPM said the draft NDA would require employees to safeguard non-public information, document obligations, and explicitly preserve disclosures authorized by law. The agency asked for public comment on the draft as agencies consider adopting the template, and the Federal Register posting was scheduled to publish Wednesday to open a comment period and potential rulemaking steps.

The proposal cites "several recent instances" of unauthorized disclosures, including internal communications about rulemaking and policy development and incidents involving FBI and Department of Homeland Security employees. OPM noted that the New York Times and Washington Post received unauthorized information about a January U.S. raid on Venezuela and delayed publishing to avoid endangering U.S. troops. The filing follows other actions this year, such as the FBI's January seizure of a Washington Post reporter's electronic devices and journalists returning Pentagon badges after new reporting restrictions. Representatives for those newspapers and the American Federation of Government Employees did not immediately respond to requests for comment.