United States Office Of Government Ethics
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The United States Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is an independent agency within the
executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...
of the
U.S. Federal Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...
which is responsible for directing executive branch policies relating to the prevention of
conflicts of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
on the part of Federal executive branch officers and employees. Under the
Ethics in Government Act The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is a United States federal law that was passed in the wake of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. It was intended to fight corruption in government. Summary The Ethics in Governmen ...
, this agency was originally part of the
Office of Personnel Management An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duti ...
from 1978 until it separated in 1989.


Primary duties

The main duties of OGE include the following: *Establishing the standards of conduct for the executive branch; *Issuing rules and regulations interpreting the criminal conflict of interest restrictions; *Establishing the framework for the public and confidential financial disclosure systems for executive branch employees; *Developing training and education programs for use by executive branch ethics officials and employees; *Ensuring that individual agency ethics programs are functioning properly by setting the requirements for them, supporting them, and reviewing them.


History

Government ethics concerns in the United States were first addressed by Congress in 1853. The act, entitled "An Act to prevent Frauds upon the Treasury of the United States," made it a misdemeanor for "any officer of the United States" or "any Senator or Representative in Congress" to assist in or prosecute "any claim against the United States." Ethics concerns continued to obtain during the Civil War.
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, prior to becoming
Vice-President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
, served as United States Civil Service Commissioner under President
Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
. He drew on this experience to help create the modern merit system (now exemplified by the
United States Merit Systems Protection Board The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is an independent quasi-judicial agency established in 1979 to protect federal merit systems against partisan political and other prohibited personnel practices and to ensure adequate protection for federa ...
) for federal employees, as President. This, in turn, led to further developments, including the focus on ethics in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1933 inaugural speech. Following Watergate, Congress passed the
Ethics in Government Act of 1978 The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is a United States federal law that was passed in the wake of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. It was intended to fight corruption in government. Summary The Ethics in Governme ...
as an attempt to curb the ongoing issues with Ethics in Government.


Office of Director

The Director of OGE is appointed by the President after confirmation by the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...
. The Director of OGE serves a five-year term, thereby overlapping presidential terms, and is subject to no term limit. The rest of the OGE employees are career civil servants. Created by the
Ethics in Government Act of 1978 The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 is a United States federal law that was passed in the wake of the Nixon Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. It was intended to fight corruption in government. Summary The Ethics in Governme ...
, OGE separated from the
U.S. Office of Personnel Management The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that manages the US civilian service. The agency provides federal human resources policy, oversight and support, and tends t ...
in 1989 pursuant to reform legislation. Emory Rounds is the current Director of the OGE, having been sworn into office on August 2, 2018.


Issues involving President Trump

A series of tweets on 30 November 2016 from the office's official
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account praised President-elect
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
for planning to divest his business holdings in order to resolve potential conflicts of interest, following an announcement where Trump reaffirmed his intent to take himself out of business operations, despite him having made no firm commitment to a divestment like selling his businesses or a blind trust. A number of observers speculated that the office's account might have been hacked, a suggestion it later denied. The ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' suggested that the apparent misunderstanding behind the postings were deliberately intended to reveal the independent agency had advised Trump's legal counsel that a divestment was the only adequate remedy for resolving any conflict, and, by extension, pressure Trump into doing so. A Freedom of Information Act request by news organization
The Daily Dot ''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Founded by Nicholas White in 2011, ''The Daily Dot'' is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometown ...
revealed that OGE Director Walter M. Shaub personally ordered officials within the agency to post the nine tweets. Under the Trump Administration, the Office reversed its own internal policy prohibiting anonymous donations from lobbyists to White House staffers who have legal defense funds.


OGE certification of Ethics Agreement Compliance Form

On May 11, 2017, the Office of Government Ethics requested the
Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...
and its associates submit a form regarding divestment of assets and possible conflicts of interest.


List of directors of the OGE

* J. Jackson Walter, 1979–1982 * David H. Martin, 1983–1987 *
Frank Q. Nebeker Frank Quill Nebeker (April 23, 1930 – January 4, 2024) was an American jurist who served as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Life and career Born in Utah, Nebek ...
, 1987–1989 * Stephen D. Potts, 1990–2000 * Amy Comstock, 2000–2003 *Robert Cusick, 2006−2011 *
Walter Shaub Walter Michael Shaub Jr. (born February 20, 1971) is an American attorney specializing in government ethics who, from January 9, 2013 to July 19, 2017, was the director of the United States Office of Government Ethics. As of July 19, 2017, he jo ...
, 2013–2017 * David J. Apol, 2017–2018 (acting) * Emory A. Rounds III, 2018–


See also

*
Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations CFR Title 5 – Administrative Personnel is one of fifty titles comprising the United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), containing the principal set of rules and regulations issued by federal agencies regarding administrative personnel. It ...


References


External links

* {{authority control Ethics organizations Government Ethics Year of establishment missing