HHS advises caution in replying to OPM email
After a slew of emails from HHS management about how to handle the OPM request to detail their week from the past week, employees were informed Monday afternoon that responses are not mandatory, but if they do respond, they should do so cautiously and under the assumption that "what you write will be read by malign foreign actors" and to "tailor your response accordingly.”
The email, which suggests "guidelines" for employees to follow if they respond, says employees should keep their responses "at a high level of generality" and "protect sensitive data, personally identifiable information, and applicable privileges to the extent possible."
"Do not (1) identify, by name or title, any other HHS employees with whom you have been working; (2) identify, by case name or otherwise, matters you are working on, or (3) identify any specific grants or contracts, or any specific grantees or contractors," the email directs employees.
HHS also suggested that employees don't include any information on scientific research or experiments, and avoid including the names of any drugs, devices or therapeutics that they work on.
HHS management was clear that there was no expectation that employees would respond and there would be no punishment for not responding.
Employees at HHS were first told that they should respond to OPM’s request, but then told six hours later to hold off on replying.
The email sent on Monday afternoon was the third sent to employees informing them how they should react to the email.
-ABC News’ John Brownstein, Youri Bendjaoud and Cheyenne Haslett
