WhistleblowerAid.org calls out multi-faceted plan in which proposed NDA could be used to retaliate against and deter whistleblowers
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 26, 2026 – Today the Trump Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a draft rule that would make federal employees sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). WhistleblowerAid.org Special Counsel and Senior Vice President David Kligerman released the following statement in response:
“Taken alone, today’s proposed rule may seem relatively harmless, but taken in context, it is a significant move toward building a federal workforce loyal to the President above all else.
The Trump administration misleadingly states that the proposed NDA ‘does not create new substantive restrictions on employee speech or disclosure rights.’ This may be technically true, but as a single step in a multi-part plan, this NDA represents a significant encroachment on federal employees’ rights and an assault on lawful whistleblowing.
This rule is the final step in a set of three recently proposed Trump OPM rules, the others being Suitability and Fitness published in June 2025 and Suitability Action Appeal published in February 2026. If these rules are adopted, the Trump administration could quickly and easily retaliate against a lawful whistleblower simply by stating that the employee had violated their NDA.
Under this framework, the White House could use the new proposed NDA as a tool to purge the federal workforce of employees loyal to the Constitution. The lasting effect would be to sideline whistleblowers and ultimately to deter lawful whistleblowing.”
Determinations of suitability and fitness examine employees’ character and conduct, deciding whether an individual is eligible for federal employment. These determinations have previously been made by the independent Merit System Protection Board (MSPB), while the proposed rules would consolidate that power within the White House-led OPM process.
WhistleblowerAid.org is a pioneering non-profit legal organization founded in 2017 that helps public and private sector workers report and expose wrongdoing safely, lawfully, and responsibly.
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