Dear Director Kupor:
The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) submits this comment to oppose the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) proposed rule, “Confidential Government Information Nondisclosure Agreement.”1 POGO is a nonpartisan, independent watchdog that investigates, exposes, and champions reforms on systemic corruption, abuse of power, and waste. Since POGO’s founding nearly five decades ago, we have worked directly with federal whistleblowers to expose government corruption and abuse of power, and have advocated before the executive branch and Congress to strengthen protections against retaliation.
We oppose this proposed rule because it will weaken protections and deter lawful whistleblowing — one of the federal government’s most important safeguards against waste, fraud, abuse of power, and other misconduct. We urge OPM to withdraw this proposed rule in its entirety.
OPM has proposed a new government-wide nondisclosure agreement (NDA) that federal agencies could compel current employees and new hires to sign as a condition of employment. OPM claims that this proposal only seeks to ensure compliance with “current legal obligations,” and “does not create new substantive restrictions on employee speech or disclosure rights.”2 However, it creates a new restriction against disclosing an expansive and vague category of “confidential government information,” including...
(FOX 2) - A state education department says claims of fraud made by a Howell lawmaker in the Michigan legislature are false after House Republicans said a Metro Detroit child care center had receiv...