FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a multistate comment letter by 16 attorneys general opposing the United States Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) proposed a government-wide Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that would silence federal civil servants. The proposed NDA would have a chilling effect on federal employees by broadly defining what constitutes protected non-public information; by threatening to remove, debar, or criminally penalize civil servants for non-compliance with the NDA; and by threatening to remove or debar employees from federal service for not signing the NDA.
In the comment letter, Attorney General Brown and the coalition highlight how the federal government’s NDA proposal goes well beyond what is necessary to protect sensitive information and urges the federal government to reconsider its proposal.
The proposed NDA for federal employees undermines their First Amendment right by creating a climate of fear and uncertainty around what they can say about the work of the federal government. The broad and ambiguous language, as well as the extreme penalties, laid out in the OPM’s NDA proposal could discourage employees from speaking out about policies affecting the public. This may result in workers choosing to stay silent over the risk of discipline, even when their speech is protected and serves the public interest.
In the comment letter, the coalition asserts that:
- The adoption of the type of sweeping, vague, and punitive NDA that OPM proposes would infringe upon federal employees’ First Amendment right to speak as a citizen on matters of public concern.
- The NDA proposal would disrupt the flow of communications between federal agencies and state agencies that is fundamental to the functioning of state-operated programs and the provision of public services to our residents.
- States have been able to deter and address unlawful disclosures without using broadly worded, governmentwide NDAs.
In filing this letter, Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
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