IEC Journal

February 4th Meeting

Ethics Pledge:  At our February 4th meeting we are pleased to have as our speakers Norm Eisen, Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform; Don Fox, OGE General Counsel; and Rick Thomas, OGE Associate General Counsel, who will address the Ethics Pledge established by Executive Order 13490 and will bring us up to date on our first year under the Pledge.  If you have any questions about the Pledge that you'd like us to pass along to our speakers in advance of our meeting, please forward them to Jeff Green at: Jeffrey.Green@osd.mil, or give him a call at 703-571-9445.

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS Auditorium, 1700 G Street, N.W., and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Agency ethics officials who are not on the roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, February 1st.  Those who are neither on our IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personal upon arrival. 

Jan. 2010 - IEC presentation materials

The below link is to the FEMA "Social Media" powerpoint presentation.   

Download IEC FEMA Social Media (Jan. 10)

Reminder: Thursday Meeting Topic "Social Media"

Have you noticed (or are you worried about) ethical issues involving new WWW features like Facebook?The IEC meeting on Thursday, January 7 will feature Jodi Cramer and John Shea of DHS (FEMA) discussing the hot topic of “Social Media,” AKA Web 2.0.  Learn how to address the ethics, appropriations, contracts, records, privacy and other compliance issues that face a government agency in this Web 2.0 world. Meeting details are in a previous post.

January 7, 2010 Meeting

Our January 7th meeting will feature Jodi Cramer and John Shea of DHS (FEMA) who will discuss “Social Media.”  Social Media or Web 2.0 are new innovative tools that, when used properly, can provide an additional communication stream for government agencies. To date, social media tools have enabled any member of the public with a cell phone to act as a “citizen journalist” and report to the world what they see and hear 24/7. However, the government is not always like the private sector, and its laws, regulations, and processes have to be adhered to even in a Web 2.0 world.

 

FEMA has been able to engage citizens using this new platform while remaining compliant with its laws and regulations. This session will focus on how other government entities can likewise engage in Web 2.0 while remaining legally compliant. It will focus on creating a structure that allows for solutions to obstacles faced by the government, and will show how building a team of in-house experts can lead to solutions for any Web 2.0 tool, addressing in particular the ethics, appropriations, contracts, records, privacy and other compliance issues that face a government agency in this Web 2.0 world.  Our presenters will also look at how ethics officials can use Web 2.0 technology to better reach their audience at their agencies.

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium, 1700 G Street, and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting. 

Agency ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, January 4th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

 

For planning purposes, our February meeting will be on Thursday, February 4th, and will address the Ethics Pledge.  We are pleased to have as our speakers for that meeting, Norm Eisen, Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, Don Fox, OGE General Counsel, and Rick Thomas, OGE Associate General Counsel.

 

We’d also like to take a moment to thank Jerry Lawson, of USAID’s OIG, for his untiring efforts on behalf of this, our website!  Without all of Jerry’s work, we would never be able to share information on the Federal ethics program among our members.  Thanks, Jerry!

 

Finally, we wish all our members the very best of the Holiday Season.  We look forward to continuing to work with you in 2010. 

IEC EPA Nov. 5 Presentation Materials

Attached are the presentation materials from the Environmental Protection Agency presentation addressing the topic of Federal employees serving on outside boards of associations and professional organizations in their official or personal capacity.

Slide Presentation: Download Professional_Associations_-_IEC_Presentation[1] 

Draft EPA policy: Download Draft_EPA_Supp_Reg_for_Professional_Associations[1]

Reminder: Meeting On Thursday

The next IEC meeting will be Thursday, Nov. 5. Guest speaker Ms. Justina Fugh, of the EPA will address share insights on the topic of Federal employees serving on outside boards of associations and professional organizations in their official or personal capacity. See Pat Carney's October 19 post for details as to location, etc.

November 5th Meeting

Our November 5th meeting will feature Ms. Justina Fugh, of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who will address issues related to Federal employees serving on outside boards of associations and professional organizations in their official or personal capacities.  This subject was rated quite highly in a recent survey of the IEC membership for potential presentation topics.  The EPA has produced some impressive work in this subject area, so this should make for stimulating lunch time meeting.

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Agency ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, November 2nd.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

October 1st Meeting

Our October 1 program speaker will be Mr. Matt Cross, the Office of Government Ethics Director of Education, who will discuss what the Office of Government Ethics is doing in the way of training.  Specifically, he will be discussing OGE's training strategies including future plans, and will provide a review of the last year's training plans.  He will also describe for us some future products that will assist ethics officials in training their employees.

 

After his presentation, there will be a brief meeting of those volunteers that would like to assist in putting together the IEC programs for 2010.  If you cannot attend but would like to comment, suggest future meeting topics or presenters, or  volunteer to present or organize a presentation at a future IEC meeting, feel free to contact Jeff Green directly with your ideas at jeffrey.green@osd.mil. 

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Agency ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, September 28th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

September 3rd Meeting

Our September 3rd meeting will feature OPM’s Wade Plunkett and Susan Whitman, who will address various aspects of the Combined Federal Campaign of particular interest to agency ethics officials.  Summer may not be over, but CFC season is just around the corner.  For us that means a host of ethics questions and concerns on solicitations, gifts, voluntary activities, contractor involvement, and many other aspects of fundraising.  Our September speakers will not only explain the relevant rules on CFC but guide us through the ethics thicket to keep our employees on the right track.  You won’t want to miss this presentation. 

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Agency ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, August 31st.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

 

We’d also like to take a moment to once again remind our membership to frequently check this website for word of future meetings, ethics job openings and other news of interest to the Federal ethics community.  As we’ve indicated previously, if you’ve noticed a lack of email notices lately, the RSS Feed service that a lot of us used was shut down a while back, so you need to resubscribe in order to receive future notices of postings.  Please read our April 1 posting regarding receiving email notices of IEC postings.  It describes one option called FeedBlitz that seems to work well for many of us.  You can get to the April 1 posting by clicking on the link associated with that date on the calendar on the top right side of our homepage.

August 13th Meeting

Our August 13th meeting will feature a panel discussion of the OGE informal opinions for the years 2007 and 2008.  Please note that the date of our August meeting is a departure from our usual first Thursday scheduling.  Our panel will include Jeff Green of DoD Standards of Conduct Office, Dave LaCroix of Navy Office of General Counsel and Pat Carney of FCC Office of General Counsel.  Those wishing to view digests of these opinions in advance of the meeting can do so at the DoD SOCO website.  The full opinions are, of course, viewable on OGE’s website.

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, August 10th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

 

Please note:  We’d like to once again remind our membership to frequently check this website for word of future meetings, ethics job openings and other news of interest to the Federal ethics community.  As we’ve indicated previously, if you’ve noticed a lack of email notices lately, the RSS Feed service that a lot of us used was shut down a while back, so you need to resubscribe in order to receive future notices of postings.  Please read our April 1 posting regarding receiving email notices of IEC postings.  It describes one option called FeedBlitz that seems to work well for many of us.  You can get to the April 1 posting by clicking on the link associated with that date on the calendar on the top right side of our homepage.

July 9th Meeting

Our July 9th meeting will feature Chip Christopher, of the Office of Government Ethics, who will talk about the OGE agency program reviews.  If your agency has not had a program review in recent years, particularly if you’ve had significant office turnover since your last OGE review and are wondering if you’re prepared for your next one, this will be an extremely valuable opportunity to hear Chip’s insights into the process.

 

Please note that our July meeting is scheduled for the second Thursday of the month, a departure from our usual scheduling practice.  However, as usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, July 6th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

June 4th Meeting

Following up on the excellent presentation at our May meeting by Erica Dornburg and Cheryl Kane Piasecki, which included an outstanding overview of the Public Financial Disclosure Report (SF-278) review process, our June 4^th meeting will continue to focus on the SF-278.   Our June meeting will feature Mr. Arthur Goldberg, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch.  Mr. Goldberg will address what happens when an agency can't get a public financial disclosure filer to file the required report report, i.e. going to court to enforce the requirement.  He will share with us what the Department of Justice looks for from the agencies to build their case.  He will also share some case stories with the community.  Mr. Goldberg is looking forward to questions from the ethics community on this timely topic.

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, June 1st.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

 

We’d also like to take a moment to remind our membership to frequently check this website for word of future meetings, ethics job openings and other news of interest to the Federal ethics community.  As we’ve indicated previously, if you’ve noticed a lack of email notices lately, the RSS Feed service that a lot of us used was shut down a while back, so it's necessary to resubscribe in order to receive future notices of postings.  Please read our April 1 posting regarding receiving email notices of IEC postings.  It describes one option called FeedBlitz that seems to work well for many of us.  You can get to the April 1 posting by clicking on the link associated with that date on the calendar on the top right side of our homepage.

May 7th Meeting

Our May 7th meeting will feature Erica Dornburg, of the the DoD Standards of Conduct Office and Cheryl Kane Piasecki, of OGE, who will present an overview of the Public Financial Disclosure Report (SF-278) review process.   With most of us beginning to review SF-278 filings for CY 2008 and the deadline for these reports just a week after our May meeting, we can expect this presentation to be timely as well as informative.  Erica will be sharing with us some of the tricks of the trade, common problems confronting the reviewer, new financial instruments that you may encounter in the course of your review, where to obtain information helpful to your review, and best practices from an agency perspective.  Cheryl will address what OGE expects by way of conflicts reviews and technical sufficiency, and will be discussing the basics of process, itself – filing cycles, timely submission to OGE, timely response to requests for additional information, etc.  You won’t want to miss this session. 

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium at 1700 G Street, NW, and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, May 4th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

IEC April 9th Presentation

Attached please find the slide presentation from the April 9, 2009, IEC meeting. Download Contractors in the Federal Workplace IEC 3-09

REMINDER: April 9 Meeting

The guest speaker at the Thursday, April 9 meeting will be Steve Epstein, formerly of the DoD Standards of Conduct Office, now the Ethics and Compliance Leader for the PricewaterhouseCoopers Federal Practice.  Steve will speak on the topic, "Contractors in the Workplace: Things Your Employees Are Not Telling You."  Pat Carney's March 23 post has more information.

Thursday, April 9th Meeting

Our April 9th meeting will feature Steve Epstein, who left the DoD Standards of Conduct Office two years ago and is now the Ethics and Compliance Leader for the PricewaterhouseCoopers Federal Practice.  With a presentation entitled, "Contractors in the Workplace: Things Your Employees Are Not Telling You," Steve returns to the IEC to share his surprising, humorous, and sometimes disturbing discoveries about the interaction between contractor and Federal employees in the Federal workplace.   In his new role Steve says that he's discovering things that "I didn't know that I didn't know, when I was in DoD, because the DoD employees never told me about them."  This material provides feedback about old concerns and new risks – topics for you to consider incorporating into this year's ethics training.   

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Thursday, April 2nd.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

IEC March 5th Presentation

Attached please find the slide presentation from the March 5, 2009, IEC meeting.  Download GSA Travel Presentation (Mar 09).

March 5th Meeting

Our March 5th meeting will feature Lenny Loewentritt, Deputy General Counsel, GSA, who will give us an update on the various travel regulations of import to ethics officials.  Lenny is always one of our most popular speakers, and his presentations are invariably well received by all in attendance.  You’ll want to make sure your agency is represented at this meeting. 

 

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium and, as always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, March 2nd.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

 

For planning purposes, please note that our April meeting will vary from our usual scheduling practice, taking place on Thursday, April 9th – the second Thursday of the month.  Please mark your calendar accordingly.

IEC Meeting Thursday, Feb. 5 - Presentation

Attached please find the slide presentation from the February 5, 2009, IEC meeting. Download Fraud Brief (02-05-09).

February 5th Meeting & 2009 Planning Session

At our February 5th meeting we are pleased to have as our featured speaker, Mark Wilkoff the Navy’s Assistant General Counsel (Acquisition Integrity) and Director of the Acquisition Integrity Office, who will present a program on acquisition and procurement fraud.  As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium.  Our meeting will be followed by a brief planning session to set the IEC agenda for the balance of 2009.  All are welcome to attend this session.  Please plan to stay and contribute your thoughts on the subjects that you’d like the IEC to address in upcoming meetings.  As always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for the February meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend this meeting can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, February 2nd. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

Revised Slides for January Presentation (Answers)

Here is a link to the revised version of the slides for the recent presentation by Peggy Love and Steve Csontos on the topic "Seeking Employment and Post Employment Obligations for Government Attorneys Entering the Private Sector":

Download Seeking-Post Employment for Attorneys- IEC Meeting 109 (3) 

This version contains the answers to the hypotheticals.

Revised Slides for January Presentation

Here is a link to the revised version of the slides for the recent presentation by Peggy Love and Steve Csontos on the topic "Seeking Employment and Post Employment Obligations for Government Attorneys Entering the Private Sector":

Download Seeking-Post Employment for Attorneys- IEC Meeting 109 (2)

Most of the changes are minor, but note that Slide #37 entitled "Resources" references an OGE Advisory Opinion which has been changed. The link above incorporates the correction.

Reminder: Meeting Thursday, Jan. 8

This month's IEC meeting will be held Thursday at the usual location. The handouts are available for printing out before the meeting.

January 8, 2009 Meeting

At our January 8th meeting we will feature a program entitled, “Seeking Employment and Post-employment Obligations for Government Attorneys Entering the Private Sector.”  Our speakers, Peggy Love, Deputy Ethics Official, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and Stephen J. Csontos, Attorney at Law, formerly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division will treat us to a revised version of a very popular session that they presented at the 2008 Ethics Conference in Orlando.  Federal Government attorneys entering the private sector need to adhere to more than one set of seeking employment and post-employment rules.  Indeed, they may find that the grass is not greener on the other side if they do not avoid the pitfalls that leaving Federal service can pose.  The presenters will provide an overview of the rules on seeking employment, post-employment, confidentiality and sharing fees.  They will compare these rules under the Standards of Ethical Conduct, the Federal post-employment criminal statute, the ABA Model Rules and the DC Bar Rules, pointing out where the bar rules, statutes and regulations differ.  This session will alert attendees to issue Federal attorneys face in employment transition. As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium.  Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend this meeting can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, January 5th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

January 8 IEC Meeting: Gov. Attorneys Entering Private Sector

Peggy Love and Steve Csontos will speak at the Jan. 8 IEC meeting on "seeking and post-employment obligations for government attorneys entering the private sector," the same topic as Ms. Love's DC Bar presentation mentioned here earlier. Thanks to John Szabo for the tip.

December 4th Meeting

At our December 4th meeting we are pleased to present a program that should be of interest to ethics advisors interested in learning more about the rules on writing by Federal officials.  As personnel come and go, rules regarding book deals apply.  Such rules may differ depending upon the nature of the employee's appointment.  Seth Jaffe of the Office of Government Ethics will discuss these issues in light of the two thorough DAEOgrams that OGE issued on this topic this past spring.  As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium at 1700 G Street, N.W., Washington, DC.  Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend this meeting can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, December 1st.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

November 14th Meeting

As the final part of our "transition" series, our Friday, November 14^th meeting will feature a panel on “Presidential Transition – Ethics Issues.”  Our panelists will be David Apol, Office of the United States Trade Representative, Sandy Mabry, Office of Government Ethics, and Robert Shapiro, Department of Labor.  As we approach the end of the current administration and the beginning of the next, we are sure that you will find our panel’s presentation to be of value.

 

Please note that meeting represents a departure from our usual first Thursday of the month meeting day.  As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium at the corner of 

17th and G Streets, N.W.

  Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend this meeting can pre-register by contacting Patrick.Carney@fcc.gov not later than Monday, November 10th.  Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

Presentation Materials for Vacancy Act presentation - Oct. 8

Handouts:

• Memorandum Download info_memovacancies_reform_actgeneralfinal_oct_08.doc
• NARA Bulletin 2008-02 http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/bulletins/2008/2008-02.html?template=print
• NARA Resource: Documenting Your Public Service: http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/publications/documenting-your-public-service.html?template=print
• OLC Guidance on Application of Vacancies Reform Act of 1998: http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/finalqa.htm

Presentation: Download iec_brief_on_vrafinal_oct_08.ppt

Wednesday October 8th Meeting

This is a reminder that this week's meeting will be on Wednesday, October 8th, a departure from our usual practice of meeting on Thursday.

Please note that next month's meeting will also be a departure from our usual practice, taking place on Friday, November 14th.

Wednesday, October 8th Meeting

As part of our upcoming "transition" series, the presenters at our Wednesday, October 8^th meeting will discuss the vacancy act and records retention.  (Please note that is a departure from our usual Thursday meeting day.)  These topics are quite relevant for appointments between now and the end of the calendar year, and for disposition of records before January.  Our presenters will be Paul Koffsky, the Deputy General Counsel for Personnel and Health Policy at the Defense Department, and Gary Stern, an attorney at the National Archives who specializes in records retention.

In addition, for those who attended the OGE Conference in Orlando earlier this month, if you have suggestions of possible topics to be included in the upcoming IEC calendar, please feel free to raise them at our October meeting.

As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium, 1700 G Street, N.W., Washington, DC (the corner of 17th and G Streets).  Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend our October meeting can pre-register by contacting Pat Carney not later than Monday, October 6th. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

For future planning, please note that our November meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 14^th, which also represents a departure from our usual meeting day practice.

Reminder: No September Meeting

This is a reminder that because of the OGE Ethics Conference, which will take place September 16-19 in Orlando, there will be no IEC meeting this month.  The next IEC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 8th.  Details on that meeting will follow later this month, but please put the 8th on your calendar and note that this will be a departure from our usual first Thursday meeting date. 

Additional handout for IEC Copyright Presentation

Download IEC2.doc

Meeting Reminder & Handouts

Do your clients ever ask you questions about copyright law? Mine sure do. Copyright law and related ethics issues will be the subject of the next IEC meeting, scheduled for Thursday, August 7. The presenters will be:

• Karen Santoro, National Science Foundation
• Jeff Green, Department of Defense Standards of Conduct Office, and
• Bonnie Klein, a Copyright Specialist on the Technical Reports Team, Defense Technical Information Center.

Meeting location and other details are available in a previous post. Here are some handouts and reference materials:

1. Slides on Copyright in U.S. Government Works Published by Third-Parties 
2. CENDI copyright FAQ
3. Federal Practitioner article and related Herbert decision

August 7th Meeting

Our next meeting will focus on copyright.  Although not strictly an ethics issue, many ethics advisors may be asked about copyright, particularly if they work in an agency with scientific and technical staff.  Our presenters will be Karen Santoro, of the National Science Foundation, Jeff Green, of the Department of Defense Standards of Conduct Office, and Bonnie Klein, a Copyright Specialist on the Technical Reports Team, Defense Technical Information Center.  Bonnie, a member of CENDI, a cooperative of senior managers from the major science agencies, the national libraries, and agencies involved in the dissemination and long-term management of scientific and technical information, works on "Frequently Asked Questions About Copyright," a CENDI-maintained living document that is updated periodically.  She will be our primary presenter and will cover copyright basics, work produced by Government employees, individually or with non-Government co-authors, and Government author agreements.  Karen will present sample agreements from NSF and NIH, and Jeff will talk about his Federal Law article “Dual Compensation and the Ethics Rules.”  As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium at 1700 G Street, N.W. (the corner of 17th and G Streets).  Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend this meeting can pre-register by contacting Pat Carney not later than Monday, August 4th. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel.

July 10th Meeting

Our next meeting, will feature the Office of Government Ethics’ Associate General Counsel Rick Thomas, who will discuss OGE’s newly issued post-employment regulations (73 Federal Register 36168, June 25, 2008)  IEC members are encouraged to read these important regulations in advance of our July meeting.  As usual, we will meet from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium at 1700 "G" Street, N.W.  As always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend our July meeting can pre-register by contacting Pat Carney not later than Monday, July 7th. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel and signing in.

OGE Opinion Digests

The digests of OGE opinions to be discussed at the IEC meeting Thursday are available at the DOD SOCO web site:

http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/resource_library/opinions2006.htm

Reminder: Monthly Meeting on June 12

This month's IEC meeting will be held on Thursday, June 12. Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend our June meeting can pre-register by contacting Pat Carney not later than Monday, June 9th. Details of the meeting are in Pat's previous post.

June 12th Meeting

At our next meeting, we will feature a panel discussion of the 2006 OGE informal opinions.  Digests of these opinions have been prepared by our panelists, Jeff Green, DoD, Dave LaCroix, Navy OGC, and Pat Carney, FCC, and are available on-line in the Ethics Resource Library on the DoD SOCO website.  The opinions, of course, are available on OGE’s website (DO-07-009 and DO-07-021).  IEC members are encouraged to read the opinions in advance of our June meeting.  In the interests of the greening of the IEC, we do not plan to hand out hard copies of the digests or opinions at the meeting.  Our June 12th meeting will take place from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium, 1700 G Street, N. W. -- the corner of 17th and G Streets.  As always, individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend our June meeting can pre-register by contacting Pat Carney not later than Monday, June 9th. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel and signing in.

Reminder: Meeting on Thursday

The next IEC meeting will be Thursday at 12:15. Ms. Ana Galindo-Marrone of OGE will speak on recent Hatch Act developments, including applicability to federal employees engaged in blogging, joining candidates’ websites, belonging to internet-based social networks, and/or emailing. Location and other details are in a previous post.

Following Up on Rick Joyce Tech Privacy Presentation

The article mentioned by Rick Joyce, the April IEC speaker, "Liability for All, Privacy for None: The Conundrum of Protecting Privacy Rights in a Pervasively Electronic World," 41 Val. U. L. Rev. 1481 (Summer 2007) is not yet available at the Valapriso Law Review web site. Because the article is copyrighted, we won't reproduce it here, but note for those interested that it is available through Westlaw using the search term 41 VALULR 1481.

The Department of Justice Cybercrime.gov site has additional information available for understanding tech privacy issues, including the Electronic Search and Seizure and Prosecuting Computer Crimes manuals.

May 1st Meeting

The IEC is pleased to announce that the speaker at our Thursday, May 1st meeting will be Ms. Ana Galindo-Marrone, Chief of the Hatch Act Unit, Office of Special Counsel, whose presentation will be entitled, “The Hatch Act - Hot Topics for the 2008 Presidential Election Season.”  Ms. Galindo-Marrone, who began her employment at OSC in 1998, has headed the Hatch Act Unit since 2000. The Unit issues advisory opinions to federal, state and local officials nationwide and investigates and litigates Hatch Act cases.

The Hatch Act, of course, governs the political activity of executive branch employees of the federal government.  Employees covered by the Act are subject to certain protections and restrictions with respect to their political activity.  While it is always important for federal employees to know and understand their rights and responsibilities under the Act, it is particularly significant this year as the Presidential election season goes in to full swing, and employees become more politically active.  Ms. Galindo-Marrone’s presentation will discuss in detail the prohibited and permitted activities under the Hatch Act with special attention to the novel issues and trends in activity that OSC has seen during this and the last few election cycles.  For example, among other things, she will address the Hatch Act’s application to federal employees who are blogging, joining candidates’ websites, belonging to internet-based social networks, and/or emailing. 

Our May 1st meeting will take place from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium, 1700 G Street, N.W., the corner of 17th and G Streets.  Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend our May meeting can pre-register by contacting Patrick Carney not later than Monday, April 28th. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel and signing in.

Electronic Privacy Issues in the Government Workplace

As the recent investigation of an inspector general for allegedly spying on the e-mail of his subordinates demonstrates, few topics are more timely than electronic privacy in the workplace. Rick Joyce provided his insights on the subject to a filled hall at the April IEC meeting.

Mr. Joyce, chair of the Venable Communications Group, built on topics covered in some of his multiple related magazine articles and his well-received presentation at the last worldwide OGE conference. His presentation included an excellent summary of the relevant statutes and trends in the case law. He emphasized the need for management to not merely have clear electronic monitoring policies, but to make sure they are communicated effectively to the workforce. Management must also make sure not to inadvertently override its written policies through inconsistent oral comments or practices (cf. Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co.). Mr. Joyce's slide show has much more detail on these and other issues.

Reminder: Monthly Meeting on Thursday (& Slides)

The guest speaker at Thursday's 12:15 meeting will be Frederick ("Rick") Joyce, chair of the Communications Group of Venable LLP. Rick's topic will be "Electronic Privacy Issues in the Government Workplace." The previous announcement has more information. A copy of Mr. Joyce's handouts is available.

April 3, 2008 Meeting

Our speaker at our Thursday, April 3, meeting will be Frederick ("Rick") Joyce, chair of the Communications Group of Venable LLP.  Rick's topic will be "Electronic Privacy Issues in the Government Workplace."  Rick will provide information on the constitutional foundation for electronic privacy laws, the various privacy laws, and the various challenges agencies face because of the numerous electronic devices employees use both in and out of the workplace.

Rick Joyce has represented some of the world's largest Internet backbone service providers, interexchange carriers, wireless messaging, cellular and PCS operators, satellite providers, and other telecommunications companies in a variety of commercial transactions, certifications, ratemakings and other regulatory proceedings before state and Federal agencies, courts, and legislative bodies.  He has written extensively and testified before Congress on these issues and is a frequent lecturer on telecommunications law, including at the last OGE ethics conference.  Rick graduated magna cum laude with a BA from George Washington University and received his JD from Georgetown University Law Center.   For those who feel like brushing up on this topic prior to next week, Rick has recently authored the following articles:

“Liability for All, Privacy for None: The Conundrum of Protecting Privacy Rights in a Pervasively Electronic World,"

Valparaiso

University

Law Review, Vol. 41, Number 4, 2007.

"The NSA's Surveillance Program and Your Business: Why You Should Care About Hepting v. AT&T" BNA's Privacy & Security Law Report, August 21, 2006.

Our April 3rd meeting will take place from 12:15-1:30 in the OTS auditorium,

1700 G Street, N.W.

(the corner of 17th and G Streets).  Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend our April meeting can pre-register by contacting Patrick Carney not later than Monday, March 31st. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel and signing in.

Next IEC Meeting To Be Expanded

OGE has announced that it will hold a special hour-long session after the next IEC meeting:

The recent release of the 2007 “National Government Ethics Survey” (Survey) by the Ethics Resource Center (ERC) has attracted significant attention in news media and has emerged as a popular topic of conversation among executive branch ethics officials.  The ERC is a well-established, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization devoted to independent research.

Dr. Patricia Harned, ERC’s President, will present an overview of the Survey and answer questions during the IEC meeting (scheduled for 12:30 to 1:30).  Dr. Harned has agreed to participate in OGE’s program (scheduled from 1:30 to 2:30) to provide ethics officials with an opportunity for in depth discussion of survey use and methodology.  The discussion will address the varied uses of survey instruments and the range of survey instruments currently used by OGE. In the context of issues highlighted in analysis of ERC’s Survey, participants will explore the role of surveys in improving agency ethics programs.  We will specifically focus on identifying the types of survey-based information that would be most useful to the federal executive branch ethics program.  Because the scope of discussion will reach significantly beyond issues specific to ERC’s Survey, ethics officials are encouraged to participate in the discussion program even if they are unable to attend the IEC program.The previous IEC announcement has registration details.

The survey is available at www.ethics.org.

March 13th IEC Meeting

At our next meeting, we are pleased to host Dr. Patricia Harned, President of Ethics Resource Center (ERC), who will discuss with us the ERC’s recently-released 2007 National Government Ethics Survey (NGES). Those who have not yet read the NGES can obtain a copy from the ERC website.  Our March 13th meeting will take place from 12:30-1:30 in the OTS auditorium, 1700 G Street, N.W. -- the corner of 17th and G Streets.  Please note this slightly later than normal starting time. Individuals who are on the IEC roster need not pre-register for this meeting.  Ethics officials who are not on our roster but who wish to attend our February meeting can pre-register by contacting Patrick Carney not later than Monday, March 10th. Those who are neither on the IEC roster nor pre-registered can still be admitted to our meeting site by showing a Government ID to OTS Security personnel and signing in.

Handouts on Touhey/Expert Witnesses

Here are the handouts for tomorrow's IEC meeting: 

Rick Thomas

• DAEOgrams DO-07-019 and DO-07-019a.
• U.S. v. Lecco, 495 F. Supp. 2d 581 (S.D. W.Va. 2007).

Terry Henry

• OGE Outline 2008.
• Another handout to be distributed at the meeting.

Another large crowd is expected for what looks like another good program.

Reminder: Meeting Thursday

Details in Pat Carney's previous post.

Leveraging IEC Presentations

Excellent presentations like those by Ric Cusick and Greg Weinman at recent IEC meetings suggest a question:

Is there some way these valuable materials could be presented live via the Internet and archived?

The IEC's monthly meetings produce a wealth of exceptional material, and it would be wonderful if it could be distributed more widely. Many organizations are already using these technologies. Here's an example of a recent "webinar" conducted by Government Executive on the new National Security Personnel System.

More on Ethics Resource Center Survey

The January 30 Washington Post story on the Ethics Resource Center survey reported here previously contains a nice chart (not available with online version) and a quote that echoes concerns about contractor ethical issues expressed by OGE Director Rick Cusick:

Ethical issues have become increasingly important, "if for no other reason than the fact that the [federal] government has become increasingly reliant on contracting and grants to independent suppliers, who are providing the government with an increasing range of goods and services," said Kenneth Ryder, a project director at the National Academy of Public Administration. "That puts a premium on having an effective ethics program."

A related Post story suggested ethical problems may be even more common at the state and local levels.