The first rule in Trump’s Washington: Don’t write anything down

The Washington Post ^ | June 289, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Hannah Natanson

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A new culture of secrecy in government is taking root – among career staffers and new political appointees alike.

At the Department of Veterans Affairs, some employees had to sign nondisclosure agreements before reviewing plans for firings and organizational shake-ups. At the Administration for Children and Families, career staff were told not to respond in writing to panicky grant recipients whose funding had been shut off to avoid a “paper trail,” one employee said.

And at the Environmental Protection Agency, several months after Elon Musk began requiring federal workers to submit weekly emails detailing five things they’d accomplished, some managers began calling staff to say they no longer had to comply — but refused to put it in writing, according to an employee who received one of the calls.

“What’s particularly weird for me is that, as a regulatory agency, we tend to operate with the idea that ‘if it’s not in writing, it didn’t happen,’” said the employee, who has since left the government. “But we are very much moving away from things being in writing.”

Across President Donald Trump’s administration, a creeping culture of secrecy is overtaking personnel and budget decisions, casual social interactions, and everything in between, according to interviews with more than 40 employees across two dozen agencies, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals. No one wants to put anything in writing anymore, federal workers said: Meetings are conducted in-person behind closed doors, even on anodyne topics. Workers prefer to talk outdoors, as long as the weather cooperates. And communication among colleagues — whether work-related or personal — has increasingly shifted to the encrypted messaging app Signal, with messages set to auto-delete.

[17th Miss Regt]

Go ahead and put it in writing. When the subpoenas or FOIA requests come, deny everything. That works for Democrats.

[jimtorr]

Sounds to me like conspiracy to avoid compliance with presidential directives.........or the Post is simply making it all up.

[Donbue]

It’s the post…..goes without saying, of course they’re making it up.

[The Antiyuppie]

Of course, this can work both ways.

[A Navy Vet]

I have no problem with the President having secure phones. Think of all the hundreds/thousands of journalists who have TDS and looking for the next thing to get him.

[ClearCase_guy]

From the Biden Administration — where is the piece of writing which authorized the autopen usage for various pardons and executive orders? Did they not write that stuff down??

[VanShuyten]

“… has increasingly shifted to the encrypted messaging app Signal, with messages set to auto-delete.”

But does Signal retain the information that a text was sent and read even though it was deleted?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

But does Signal retain the information that a text was sent and read even though it was deleted?

[T. Rustin Noone]

It definitely works against the supervisee.

You say, “Hey. My boss told me to add a zero to all benefits
given to illegal aliens.”

They say, “Prove it.”

You are totally screwed.

[Major Matt Mason]

Sounds like a bunch of people that need to be fired. Heck, fire everyone and start from scratch at this point.

[curious7]

Or the Post is being used to pass marching orders to every commie bureaucrat ‘in the clear’. No trail of commo to follow done that way.

[KC_Conspirator]

At the Department of Veterans Affairs, some employees had to sign nondisclosure agreements before reviewing plans for firings and organizational shake-ups.

Which is an industry standard. Btw, the VA actually got worse under Biden, which is seemingly doing the impossible.

[ridesthemiles]

WHEN BIDEN PUTS THINGS IN WRITING-—

AN AUTO PEN SIGNS IT.....:)

[Organic Panic]

HAHA. Reminds me when some urinalist found “shredded notes” in the presidential toilet during Trump’s last term.