The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has announced a proposal to create a standardized nondisclosure agreement (NDA) form. The form would be optional for federal agencies to adopt for both new and current employees.

The new proposal is designed to clarify expectations regarding the handling of non-public government information and to deter unauthorized disclosures—particularly leaks to the press and the public.

What OPM Is Proposing

Under the proposal, agencies would have discretion to require employees to sign the new NDA template. New hires would complete it as part of the standard onboarding process. Current employees could be asked to sign it when moving into a new position or role. The form would specifically target “confidential government information,” a category defined to include:

  • Details on internal agency operations
  • Personnel matters
  • Procurement processes
  • Any other sensitive, pre-decisional, or deliberative material that is not yet publicly available

This list goes beyond classified national-security information. The goal is to address situations in which news outlets publish drafts of regulations, interagency deliberations, or other non-public government discussions before official release. If adopted by an agency, violations could carry clear consequences, including potential adverse actions against the federal employees who violated the disclosure prohibitions.

No draft of the actual form has been released. Agencies would retain flexibility on whether, and how broadly, to implement it. As noted below, OPM is inviting public comments that can be submitted by anyone interested in the new requirement.

Current NDA Requirements for Federal Employees

Federal employees are already subject to several layers of nondisclosure obligations, but they are more narrow and do not cover such a wide swath of the federal workforce.

  • Standard Form 312 (SF-312): The longstanding Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, required for anyone granted access to classified material. It is indefinite in duration and focuses strictly on protecting classified national-security information.
  • Agency-specific or situational NDAs: Many departments use tailored agreements for Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), procurement-sensitive data, or particular projects. Some agencies have required NDAs during workforce-reduction planning or other sensitive internal processes.
  • Settlement agreements and ad-hoc policies: NDAs sometimes appear in resolutions of personnel disputes or for employees handling highly sensitive but unclassified work.

All such agreements are legally required to contain explicit language—stemming from the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act and 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(13)—stating that nothing in the NDA overrides employees’ rights to disclose waste, fraud, abuse, or other protected matters to Congress, Inspectors General, or the Office of Special Counsel.

Why OPM Is Proposing this Change

OPM’s notice frames the standardized form as a practical way to reduce the volume of unauthorized leaks that have appeared in recent news coverage of internal government deliberations. This is what OPM stated in its disclosure announcement:

Federal employees do not have discretion to disclose Confidential Government Information outside of narrow circumstances prescribed by relevant authorities and implemented by procedures which may differ by agency. Unauthorized disclosures of Confidential Government Information disrupt agency operations and erode public trust. In recent months, unauthorized disclosures have included internal government materials not intended for public release, such as pre-decisional documents and interagency comments exchanged during internal coordination processes. There have been several recent instances in which internal agency communications related to rulemaking and policy development were disclosed without authorization. Such disclosures risk chilling candid interagency feedback, disrupting orderly decision-making, and weakening trust within and among Federal agencies.

The proposal aligns with broader Trump-administration efforts to strengthen accountability across the federal workforce, including a 2025 proposed rule that would tie violations of nondisclosure obligations more directly to an employee’s “suitability and fitness” for federal service.

By creating a single, clear template, OPM probably intends to eliminate patchwork agency policies and give employees clear notice of what constitutes protected information and the potential consequences of improper disclosure.

How This NDA is Different—and Its Likely Impact on the Federal Workforce

The proposed NDA would be a significant expansion in scope and how it is applied:

  • Broader coverage: Unlike the SF-312, which is limited to classified information, the new form would reach everyday internal, pre-decisional, and deliberative materials that have historically been shared more freely (subject only to general laws and ethics rules).
  • Standardization vs. ad-hoc use: Instead of agencies inventing their own forms or using NDAs only in niche situations, a government-wide template could make confidentiality agreements far more commonplace across the roughly 2 million civilian federal employees.
  • Optional but potentially widespread: Because adoption is discretionary, impact would vary by agency. High-profile or policy-heavy departments might implement it broadly, while others might not.

Likely effects on federal employees will probably include these items:

  • Increased accountability: Employees would face clearer rules and stronger enforcement mechanisms for leaks, potentially reducing embarrassing or premature disclosures that undermine deliberative processes.
  • Administrative burden and culture shift: Onboarding and certain internal transfers could involve one more mandatory form. Some employees and unions may view it as another layer of oversight that could chill routine communication with the press or Congress—even though whistleblower protections must remain intact.
  • Legal and practical limits: The NDA could not lawfully restrict protected disclosures. Critics may still worry about a “chilling effect,” especially given the administration’s parallel moves on performance accountability and suitability standards. Supporters argue it simply codifies existing legal obligations in a more accessible way.

Because the proposal is still in its proposal phase and agencies would decide whether to use the form, its ultimate reach remains uncertain. Federal employee advocates will likely monitor implementation closely for any perceived overreach, while the administration sees it as a commonsense step toward greater discipline and reduced unauthorized disclosures.

The full proposal notice will be available through OPM’s public announcement in a subsequent notice to be published in the Federal Register. Comments can be submitted using the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Follow the instructions for sending comments.

Comments from the public and agencies will help shape the final version before any government-wide rollout.

Relationship to Broader Workforce Changes

This new proposal is part of administration initiatives that will provide more presidential control over career employees, including:

Federal employee unions routinely challenge almost any action taken by the Trump administration by filing various lawsuits. We can reasonably expect such lawsuits to be filed on this issue shortly after the Federal Register notice has been issued. The union’s lawsuits will, as they often do, include the argument that the new proposal is an effort to create a civil service structure that is more responsive to the president. The argument assumes the current civil service structure is politically neutral. Various cases are now in court with this argument.

An expansive NDA is likely to quickly be interpreted by some as a requirement translating into a “don’t talk to reporters” prohibition. This will quickly trigger litigation that will raise these issues by unions and, perhaps, other organizations:

  • First Amendment concerns and how this applies to federal employees
  • Whistleblower protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act and how that will interact with this new form
  • Prohibited personnel practices
  • Claims of retaliation against federal employees who do not follow the requirements of the new NDA form.

Bottom Line

Federal employees already sign confidentiality agreements in sensitive positions, especially involving classified information. That is not new.

What appears new here is the possibility of a broad governmentwide NDA aimed specifically at leaks and unauthorized communications with the media by ordinary civil servants.

The central unresolved question is whether the proposal would merely restate existing legal obligations or whether it would attempt to discourage protected whistleblowing and dissent inside the federal workforce.

That distinction will likely determine whether the proposal survives legal scrutiny.

The legal issues that will be raised will probably be reviewed by several courts before the issue is resolved. The ultimate impact will probably depend on what happens after the case is filed with the US Supreme Court. That will take time. The reality is that these restrictions proposed by the Trump administration will be useful to subsequent administrations or will be quickly discarded with new executive orders from an administration that wants to return to the philosophical preferences of the Biden administration.