SBA investigating staff for talking to press, former colleagues

All Small Business Administration employees received a memo Monday announcing the agency is investigating “numerous reports of current employees engaging in unauthorized communication with former SBA staff members and members of the media.”

The memo, authored by SBA General Counsel Wendell Davis and viewed by Government Executive, warned SBA employees they could face firing or legal consequences for such “unauthorized communications.”

“Disclosing confidential information or unauthorized communications to the media can have serious legal consequences, including criminal penalties depending on the nature of the information and the applicable laws,” the memo states. “This message will serve as your only warning: Agency employees are not permitted to discuss SBA non-public, pre-decisional or confidential information with anyone outside of the agency.”

The memo suggests employees who speak with people outside the agency about internal business could run afoul of the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act or the use of nonpublic Information.

The agency has announced it intends to cut 43% of its workforce from 6,500 employees and recently reopened the deferred resignation program to staffers. However, previous reporting by Government Executive indicated there were discrepancies in SBA’s DRP offer, with some employees who accepted the offer told they had to work past the April 19 date they were originally told.

SBA’s harsher stance on employee communications is not unique. The Justice Department Tuesday released new policies regulating employees’ social media usage.

Meanwhile, several agencies in the Trump administration have taken steps to limit employees' ability to communicate about their work: The Homeland Security Department previously said it would use polygraph tests to determine whether any employees were leaking information. The Environmental Protection Agency instructed staff not to initiate any external communications, while the Defense Department put a pause on any social media posts.

Earlier this month, at least some DHS employees received a message from management warning them of their responsibility to not share information. It required them to read and sign off that they understood all departmental data is for official use only and employee devices can be tracked and monitored.

Last month, Agriculture Department employees were greeted with a new message when they logged into their devices alerting them that they are potentially being watched and any unauthorized use could result in discipline or criminal penalties.

“You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communications or data transiting or stored on this information system,” the message read. “At any time, the government may for any lawful government purpose monitor, intercept, search and seize any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system.”

Activities that could lead to “disciplinary action, as well as civil and criminal penalties” include using personal email for official business, forwarding work emails to personal accounts or taking photos of government information with personal devices or using department equipment to disburse material that is inappropriate, offensive or “of a sexual nature.”