WaPo’s subhead: “A new culture of secrecy in government is taking root – among career staffers and new political appointees alike.”

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.

BTW, while there’s nothing unlawful about holding a conversation, holding that conversation on a messaging app without preserving the conversation will violate federal public records laws in many circumstances.