Trump Admin Tells Fed Workers To Halt External Communication in 1st Week

"WASHINGTON - Multiple federal agencies have told their employees to cease communications with members of Congress and the press, sources have told The Huffington Post.

The freeze has startled aides on the Hill and people at those agencies, who worry that it could abruptly upend current operations and stifle work and discussions that routinely take place between branches of government.

Officials at sub-agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, have been told not to send 'any correspondence to public officials' according to a memo shared with HuffPost. Instead, they have been asked to refer questions to agency leadership until the leadership has had time to meet with incoming White House staff about the new administration's policies and objectives, according to a congressional official who was also informed of the communications freeze."

Sam Stein and Kate Sheppard report for the Huffington Post January 24, 2017.

SEE ALSO:

"Information Lockdown Hits Trump’s Federal Agencies" (Politico)

"Trump Administration Moves to Muzzle Scientists, Block Research" (Union of Concerned Scientists)

"USDA Scientists Have Been Put On Lockdown Under Trump" (BuzzFeed)

"Trump Admin Bans Communications From EPA To Public" (AP)

"Trump Administration Seeks To Muzzle U.S. Agency Employees" (Reuters)

"Government Agencies’ Communications Changeover Draws Trump Critics’ Fire" (Wall Street Journal)

"Silenced Federal Agencies Violating Their Own Policies" (Climate Central)

"USDA Scrambles To Ease Concerns After Researchers Were Ordered To Stop Publishing News Releases" (Washington Post)

"Trump Silences Government Scientists With Gag Orders" (The Verge)