In a comment letter to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, DDF called for the immediate reversal of the new non-disclosure agreement for all federal employees.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Democracy Defenders Fund filed a comment letter with the Office of Personnel Management, requesting the withdrawal of a proposed government-wide non-disclosure agreement, a move that could chill whistleblowers and others from exposing government wrongdoing.

The unprecedented move by OPM oversteps its regulatory bounds and risks compromising long-established free speech protections maintained by independent government bodies. Current federal statutes do not authorize OPM to create a government-wide gag order, or to take legal action against former employees for sharing information the public has long-held the right to know. Furthermore, by using broad and confusing language, OPM’s proposed NDA would make it near-impossible for federal employees to know what they can and cannot say, effectively shutting down the government transparency that a healthy democracy requires, the letter states.

"This new NDA isn't about safety or security; it's about control," stated Virginia Canter, chief counsel and director of anti-corruption and ethics at Democracy Defenders Fund. "Laws already exist to protect truly sensitive data. The Trump administration has not offered any legitimate justification to limit free speech and transparency through this extreme measure."

The comment explains that the NDA covers far more speech than is necessary, making it overly broad and in conflict with the First Amendment. The proposed NDA imposes a "prior restraint" on speech and gives agency bosses like Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche "unbridled discretion" to decide who is allowed to speak and who is silenced. The result of this “selective enforcement” will be a culture of fear that allows the government to hide its mistakes while punishing those who try to bring them to light.

The full letter is available here.

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Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.