The United States Office Of Personnel Management on Tuesday released plans to create a standardized nondisclosure agreement for federal employees, a move that would let agencies require workers to sign away their acknowledgment of how confidential information may be handled. If agencies opt in, the form would apply to current employees and new hires, and the requirement would be folded into future job announcements.
The timing is why the proposal is getting attention now. OPM said its filing was set for publication in the Federal Register on Wednesday, opening a 30-day comment period that could shape whether the plan stays in its current form or changes before a final draft is issued.
Under the draft, signed forms would be stored in employees’ electronic Official Personnel Folders. The agreement would cover internal agency operations, personnel matters, procurement processes and sensitive pre-decisional material that is not publicly available and should not be disclosed under applicable law. OPM said the form would not add new restrictions, but would document employees’ acknowledgment of obligations they already have.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said that framing does not match what federal workers would face on the ground. He said agencies would be pressured to make the NDA mandatory and that employees could be fired for refusing to sign it. The union said the proposal was an attempt to silence and purge nonpartisan civil servants who speak out about wrongdoing at their agencies.
OPM said the agreement would not restrict or supersede whistleblower protections, and employees would still be able to report fraud, waste and abuse to Congress or an inspector general office. But Kevin Owen said those exceptions amounted to little more than lip service, while federal employment lawyer Michael Fallings warned that much of the language was overbroad and could affect protected activity. In a separate filing, he said disclosures should be limited to official duties and that employees would have to notify their agency promptly if they suspected an unauthorized release.
The draft also says the obligation would follow workers even if they change jobs or employers unless an authorized agency official gives written permission for a disclosure. OPM wrote that unauthorized disclosures of confidential government information disrupt agency operations and erode public trust, and it said the goal was to keep government documents from being leaked to the press or otherwise made public.
The practical question now is not whether OPM wants a standardized NDA on the books. It is which agencies, if any, will choose to make it mandatory — and whether the final version can survive the comment period without narrowing the language that watchdogs say could still chill lawful disclosures.
