Trump Wants to Silence 3 Million Federal Workers. Here's How.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management posted a draft non-disclosure agreement to the Federal Register on Tuesday, May 26, that would require all three million federal workers, both current employees and new hires, to sign an NDA agreeing not to share “non-public, confidential, or proprietary information.” The definition is sweeping: it includes “internal agency operations, personnel matters, procurement processes, or any sensitive, pre-decisional or deliberative material that is not currently publicly available.” Penalties for violating the NDA include “removal, debarment, or criminal penalties.”The proposal is a federal regulation, not a bill or an executive order. It does not require congressional approval. It will be officially published Wednesday and open for a 30-day public comment period before OPM can finalize it.While technically voluntary at the agency level, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal workers’ union, said the administration will pressure every agency to require the NDA and then fire workers who refuse to sign.This is the same legal tool Donald Trump has used throughout his career to silence ex-wives, contestants on The Apprentice, campaign staff, Stormy Daniels, and women who have accused him of misconduct. It is now being deployed against the federal workforce.The proposal fits a broader pattern of state-coerced censorship that has emerged in recent weeks: the Department of Justice deleted approximately 1,700 press releases related to January 6th prosecutions, calling the federal record of the insurrection “partisan propaganda”; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired its final episode after CBS’s parent company Paramount caved to Trump administration pressure during a major merger review.To submit a public comment, visit FederalRegister.gov.Sources:https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/05/26/trump-administration-proposes-expansive-ndas-all-federal-workers/https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/26/politics/ndas-federal-workers-trump-administration-proposalhttps://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5895178-trump-administration-federal-worker-ndas-leaks/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/05/26/nation/trump-ndas-federal-workers/Public inspection PDF (available now): https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-10471.pdf Get full access to The Rogue Voice aka Linsay Rousseau at linsayrousseau.substack.com/subscribe