The Trump administration has proposed requiring all current and future federal employees to sign non-disclosure agreements, in what would be its most sweeping attempt yet to control the flow of government information to the press. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal agency responsible for managing the US civil service, published a notice in the Federal Register on Tuesday asking for public comment on a draft NDA to be used across federal agencies. The White House has warned it would pursue legal action against any worker who violates the agreement.

The draft NDA would cover a broad range of material beyond formally classified secrets, including "internal agency operations, personnel matters, procurement processes, or any sensitive, pre-decisional or deliberative material that is not currently publicly available." It would apply to former employees as well, requiring them to obtain written authorisation before speaking to journalists. Unusually, the draft also asserts that the government would be entitled to "royalties" from unauthorised disclosures, though the OPM did not clarify what this means in practice. Individual agencies would need to agree to implement the directive, and a 30-day public comment period will open once it is formally published.

The OPM cited several specific incidents as justification, including cases in which employees at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security disclosed information about planned immigration enforcement operations without authorisation. In another instance, the New York Times and Washington Post reportedly received advance details of a US military raid in Venezuela in January and delayed publication to avoid endangering troops. The agency said such leaks were "disrupting agency operations and eroding trust across government."

Critics, however, have raised serious concerns about civil liberties. The Freedom of the Press Foundation called the proposal "absurd" and "dangerously secretive," arguing that it would "kneecap whistleblower protections" and undermine First Amendment rights. The draft agreement explicitly exempts disclosures of fraud, abuse, or misconduct made to internal government watchdogs or Congress, which are already protected under federal law — but press freedom advocates warn the broad language could still chill legitimate reporting.

The proposal is the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to tighten control over information. Since returning to office, the White House has banned certain news outlets from the Pentagon press pool — a policy federal courts ruled unconstitutional — seized the electronic devices of a Washington Post reporter, and cut funding for public broadcasters PBS and NPR. The NDA initiative marks a significant escalation, extending information controls to the entire federal workforce rather than targeting individual journalists or outlets.