The Trump administration—the self-styled “most transparent administration in history”—plans to require all federal government employees to sign nondisclosure agreements in what it claims is an effort to stop damaging information from leaking, but what critics warn is a cynical effort to subvert accountability and hide malfeasance.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday on a draft notice posted to the Federal Register by the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is expected to be published on Wednesday.
Consistent with the Trump administration’s efforts to squash negative reporting on its endeavors, the new rule contains a sweeping order that would ban federal employees from going to the press with any information deemed “confidential.”
Notably, this is different from the typical designation of “classified” vs. “unclassified.” It encompasses “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.”
Both current and former employees would need “written permission from an authorized agency official” to speak to the press about matters deemed “confidential” under the draft’s terms, or they could be subject to civil and criminal penalties.
It will be up to individual agencies whether they require employees to sign the NDAs, but the document said doing so would “promote consistency across government, better protect...
18 Days in Minnesota: False claims, chaos and cover-ups BBC CNN DW CGTN NBC ABC ALJazeera France24 JoyNews CitiTV Net2TV TV3 UTV DelayTV KofiTV MagrahebTV MGTV OTHERS | Movies Documentaries 18 D...