ARAŞTIRMA DOSYALARI

Background

The Ethics
in Government Act of 1978, borne out of the Watergate scandal, established the
Office of Government Ethics and the position of a Designated Agency Ethics
Official in each executive branch agency.

The Act is
intended to promote the integrity of public officials and institutions. To that
end, the Act created mandatory public disclosure of certain designated public
officials’ financial and employment history and restricted lobbying activities
of public officials after leaving office.

According to
CFR 5 § 2638.203, the Duties of the designated agency ethics official
are:

(a) In
general.
The designated agency ethics official shall coordinate and manage the agency’s
ethics program. The program consists generally of:

(1) Liaison with the
Office of Government Ethics;

(2) Review of financial
disclosure reports;

(3) Initiation and
maintenance of ethics education and training programs; and

(4) Monitoring
administrative actions and sanctions.

(Additional
Background is below…)

DAEO Memorandums

In mid 2016,
I began filing FOIA requests for memorandums issued from various agency DAEOs.
Below, broken down by agency and date, you will find what I have come up with.
As of November 4, 2016, I still have many open FOIA requests on this, so
definitely watch this page for updates!

Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)

 Designated
Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) Memos – 01/01/16 – 08/30/16 [XX Pages, 1.7MB]
– I have been looking for clarification on why only the announcement of the
DTRA’s DAEO was received as responsive to this FOIA. To date, I have not yet
heard a response for clarification.

Additional Information

(…Continued
from above)

(b) Program
elements.
In carrying out this program on behalf of the head of the agency, the designated
agency ethics official shall ensure that:

(1) Close liaison with
the Office of Government Ethics concerning the agency’s ethics program is
developed and maintained;

(2) An effective system
and procedure for the collection, filing, review, and, when applicable, public
inspection of the financial disclosure reports as required by title II of the
Act, Executive Order 11222, and other applicable statutes and regulations is
developed and properly administered;

(3) The financial
disclosure reports of Presidential nominees to agency positions submitted prior
to Senate confirmation hearings pursuant to § 2634.605(c) of part 2634 are
certified personally by him or herself or alternate designated agency ethics
official in his or her absence;

(4) All financial
disclosure reports submitted by employees and filed in bureaus and regional
offices, as well as those submitted and filed at the agency’s headquarters, are
properly maintained and effectively and consistently reviewed for conformance
with all applicable laws and statutes;

(5) A list of those
circumstances or situations which have resulted or may result in noncompliance
with ethics laws and regulations is developed, maintained and published within
the agency as required by § 206(b)(7) of the Act and made available for public
inspection;

(6) An education program
for agency employees concerning all ethics and standards of conduct matters is
developed and conducted in accordance with subpart G, Executive Agency Ethics
Training Programs, of this part.

(7) A counseling program
for agency employees concerning all ethics and standards of conduct matters
including post employment matters, is developed and conducted;

(8) Records are kept,
when appropriate, on advice rendered;

(9) Prompt and effective
action including administrative action is undertaken to remedy:

(i) Violations or
potential violations, or appearances thereof, of the agency’s standards of
conduct including post employment regulations;

(ii) The failure to file
a financial disclosure report or portions thereof;

(iii) Potential or actual
conflicts of interests, or appearances thereof, which were disclosed on a
financial disclosure report; and

(iv) Potential or actual
violations of other laws governing the conduct or financial holdings of
officers or employees of that agency, and

that a follow-up is made to ensure
that actions ordered, including divestiture and disqualification, have been
taken;

(10) The agency’s
standards of conduct regulations, financial disclosure systems, and
post-employment enforcement systems are evaluated periodically to determine
their adequacy and effectiveness in relation to current agency
responsibilities;

(11) Information
developed by internal audit and review staff, the Office of the Inspector
General, if any, or other audit groups is reviewed to determine whether such
information discloses a need for revising agency standards of conduct or for
taking prompt corrective action to remedy actual or potential conflict of
interest situations;

(12) The services of the
agency’s Office of the Inspector General, if any, are utilized when
appropriate, including the referral of matters to and acceptance of matters
from that Office;

(13) A list of those
persons to whom delegations of authority are made pursuant to § 2638.204(a) is
maintained and made available to the Office of Government Ethics, upon request;
and

(14) Information required by the Act or requested by
the Office of Government Ethics in the performance of its responsibilities is
provided in a complete and timely manner.