The Trump administration is seeking mandatory NDAs for all federal employees to help stop further leaks to the press, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The paper cited a draft notice prior to release explaining the administration’s pitch to require nondisclosure agreements be signed by government employees to put a stop to “all non-public, confidential, or proprietary information” leaking from various agencies to the public.
The Office of Personnel Management’s draft notice pointed to the “unauthorized disclosure” of information to The New York Times and Washington Post regarding Nicolas Maduro’s capture in Venezuela earlier this year as one of the guiding reasons for the NDAs being installed.
The notice also pointed to protecting the identities of agents and troops for a number of the countries’ armed forces. Chief among them are ICE agents, who have had their hidden identities leaked to the public more as Trump used them to enforce his immigration policies across a number of U.S. cities.
“These leaks put the lives of members of the armed forces at risk, leading news organizations to delay ‘publishing what they knew to avoid endangering US troops,’” the draft read. “Also this year, the personal information of approximately 4,500 ICE employees — including nearly 2,000 employees working in frontline enforcement — was disclosed by a Federal employee, including names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and job titles. This leak jeopardized the safety of the agents.”
Agencies will have a 30-day review period to decide whether or not to adopt the NDA.
This is the latest in Trump’s many attacks against the media. Weeks ago, Trump urged the Department of War to subpoena journalists’ records following Iran war leaks. The Wall Street Journal shared that the storied outlet received grand jury subpoenas dated March 4 for records belonging to its reporters. Per the WSJ, the request was tied to its Feb. 23 article, titled, “Pentagon Flags Risks of a Major Operation Against Iran.”
“The government’s subpoenas to The Wall Street Journal and our reporters represent an attack on constitutionally protected newsgathering,” Ashok Sinha, the chief communications officer of Dow Jones, which publishes the WSJ, said in a statement. “We will vigorously oppose this effort to stifle and intimidate essential reporting.”
