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The Trump medication is proposing that each caller and existent national employees motion non-disclosure agreements arsenic portion of its crackdown connected property leaks.
On Tuesday, the Office of Personnel Management posted a notice successful the Federal Register asking for remark connected a draught NDA that national agencies would usage for "both caller and existing employees."
"The signifier is intended to papers Federal employees' acknowledgment of, and statement to comply with, existent ineligible obligations to safeguard non-public, confidential, oregon proprietary information, created oregon obtained done their authoritative duties, portion expressly preserving the close to marque disclosures authorized by law," the announcement said.
The OPM announcement includes a projected NDA that national agencies whitethorn usage if they wish. It besides says that the projected NDA "does not make caller substantive restrictions connected worker code oregon disclosure rights" and "expressly" preserves employees' "rights to marque disclosures authorized by law, including protected whistleblower disclosures."
The OPM cited examples of interior bureau communications related to rulemaking and argumentation improvement that were disclosed without authorization. It besides raised instances successful which FBI and the Department of Homeland Security employees disclosed accusation without authorization astir planned migration enforcement actions.
For instance, the OPM's petition for remark stated that the New York Times and Washington Post had received unauthorized accusation connected the U.S. raid successful Venezuela this past January and delayed "publishing what they knew to debar endangering U.S. troops."
But days aft the raid, New York Times enforcement exertion Joe Kahn wrote, "Contrary to immoderate claims, however, The Times did not person verified details astir the pending cognition to seizure Maduro oregon a communicative prepared, nor did we withhold work astatine the petition of the Trump administration."
He besides said, "While not applicable successful this case, The Times does consult with the subject erstwhile determination are concerns that vulnerability of circumstantial operational accusation could hazard the lives of American troops. We instrumentality those concerns seriously, and person astatine times delayed work oregon withheld details if they mightiness pb to nonstop threats to members of the military."
Representatives for the New York Times and Washington Post did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.
Locating leaks that the medication deems harmful to its messaging has go a precedence successful aggregate agencies since the opening of President Trump's 2nd administration. In January, the FBI seized Washington Post newsman Hannah Natanson's phone, laptops, portable hard drives and Garmin watch, arsenic portion of an probe into a authorities contractor who was later indicted for allegedly disseminating classified material.
And past year, dozens of reporters turned successful their entree badges astatine the Pentagon, alternatively of complying with caller rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would permission journalists susceptible to expulsion if they sought to study connected accusation — classified oregon different — that had not been approved by the caput for release.
The American Federation of Government Employees did not instantly respond to requests for comment.
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