The Trump administration has unveiled a new proposal requiring all federal employees to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) if they wish to speak with journalists without prior authorization.
The proposal, released Tuesday by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), states that the White House could sue employees who violate the agreement. The document also asserts that the U.S. government is entitled to “royalties” from leaked information, though officials have not clarified how that would work.
The document does not set a date for the NDA to take effect. Once officially published in the Federal Register, there will be a 30-day public comment period. Individual federal agencies would need to agree before the directive could be enforced.
“This action stems from concerns that unauthorized disclosures of sensitive government information are disrupting agency operations and eroding trust across the administration,” OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pinover said.
The move is the latest by the White House to tighten control over the flow of information to the public, following a series of measures such as banning certain news outlets from Pentagon press briefings and cutting funding for public broadcasters like PBS and NPR.
Disclosing classified government information is already prohibited under federal law. Trump himself faced criminal charges in 2023 over the mishandling of classified documents. However, the new proposal expands the definition of confidential information beyond what the intelligence community classifies.
Under the plan, the NDA would cover “information related to internal agency operations, personnel matters, procurement processes, or any sensitive, pre-decisional or deliberative documents that have not been widely released and are not authorized for disclosure under existing law.”
The agreement would also apply to former employees, requiring them to obtain written permission before speaking to reporters about such information.
Federal law prohibits the government from retaliating against employees who disclose fraud, abuse, or workplace misconduct to internal oversight bodies and Congress. According to the draft, the NDA would not apply to such disclosures.
Since taking office for his second term, Trump has launched an aggressive campaign against news outlets and media figures he accuses of being overly critical. He has sued multiple news organizations, labeled news “fake,” and personally attacked journalists.
“The proposal from the ‘most transparent administration in history’ requiring millions of federal employees to sign a blanket NDA is not only absurd but also unnecessary and dangerous for transparency,” Lauren Harper of the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) told Al Jazeera.
Harper added: “This policy, from a president who previously tried to impose corporate-style secrecy agreements on federal workers, would gut whistleblower protections, violate the First Amendment, and wrongly limit the public’s right to know.”
Earlier this month, Trump threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of ABC after host Jimmy Kimmel joked about First Lady Melania Trump. The White House has also barred the Associated Press from the White House press pool and restricted reporter access at the Pentagon, a move a federal court ruled unconstitutional.
Last year, the Trump administration also launched a crackdown aimed at deporting pro-Palestinian student activists living in the U.S. who are not citizens.
