IEC Journal

Former CIA employee indicted for disclosing classified information

"A former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, was charged today with repeatedly disclosing classified information to journalists, including the name of a covert CIA officer and information revealing the role of another CIA employee in classified activities, Justice Department officials announced."  See the full DOJ press release at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-ag-083.html.

Dept. of Education IG Investigates Misuse of Information

POGO selected a lengthy POGO blog post discusses an investigation by Department of Education Inspector General Kathy Tighe into improper use of government information as one of its top 10 posts of 2011. Here's an excerpt:

Among other things, Tighe will examine whether confidential DoED information and draft documents, including one produced by her own office, were transferred to Wall Street short-sellers seeking informational advantage in their bets on the future of the $35 billion for-profit education industry. Beyond the propriety of the Education Department's conduct, the phenomenon raises broader questions about the integrity of government decision-making in the face of relentless Wall Street scrutiny.

The case is also among the latest high-profile examples of Wall Street or individual investors trying to access non-public government information. Another involves a Food and Drug Administration chemist who in March was alleged to have misappropriated confidential agency information about drug tests to make $3.6 million in the stock market.

 

Presidential Executive Order: PROMOTING EFFICIENT SPENDING

On Nov. 9, 2011, the President signed an executive order to promote efficient spending in the Executive Branch.  See EO at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/09/executive-order-promoting-efficient-spending.  The EO is part of the Campaign to Cut Waste, and coincided with the announcement of the 2011 SAVE Award finalist.  See WH press release: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/09/we-cant-wait-president-obama-sign-executive-order-cut-waste-and-promote-.

Within 45 days, agencies must develop plans to reduce combined costs in the following areas to 20 percent below Fiscal Year 2010 levels by Fiscal Year 2013.

1. Reduce Spending on Travel and Conferences.
2. Cut Duplicative and Unnecessary Employee Information Technology Devices
3. End Unnecessary Printing and Put It Online
4. Limit Motor Vehicles
5. Stop Swag – or Government Promotional Handouts

DOJ IG revises Conference "muffin" report

As a result of the responses and clarifications to the September IG report suggesting that DOJ approved and paid for $16.80 muffins at a 2009 conferences, the DOJ IG revised and reissued the report, superceding its prior report.  While the clarifications corrected the factual misstatements that the muffins at the given conference were $16.80 each, it still concludes that attention must be given to reducing excessing conference costs.  See DOJ revised report: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/plus/a1143.pdf; and GovExec article: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=49168&dcn=e_gvet.

White House orders agencies to review policies on conferences

The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General just released an audit report which assessed the Department's expenditures related to conferences.  The report reviewed a sampling of conferences held by the Department between October 2007 and September 2009, showing excessive spending on conferences food and beverage items, such as $16 for a muffin. See report: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/plus/a1143.pdf.  See also the Washington Post article on the same: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-16-muffin-justice-dept-audit-finds-wasteful-and-extravagant-spending/2011/09/20/gIQAXKyhiK_story.html.

In response to the audit report, OMB issued a directive for all agencies to review policies related to conferences, to try to eliminate excessive spending and promote efficiencies in conferences.  See http://www.govexec.com/pdfs/092111ts1.pdf.

Ethics related news

Here are some news item with ethics related topics:

• DOJ Press release on Former Army Corps of Engineer pleading guilty to accepting bribes on Iraqi contracts.  See http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/September/11-crm-1207.html
• SOCO Advisory 11-04 is available in the Ethics Resource Library at: http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/2011_Advisories/advisory_1104.htm. Topics include: 1. Hatch Act Guidance for Civilian Employees; 2. 2011 National Emergency Extended by President; 3. Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure update; & 4. Combined Federal Campaign.

DOJ Response to AUSA Viewing Pornography at Work

Department of Justice response to a Senatorial inquiry concerning an assistant U.S. attorney discovered to have viewed pornography while at the office:

 

"As a general practice, when there are criminal allegations of misconduct involving an assistant U.S. attorney, those matters are sent to a different office to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. The department took immediate and appropriate action in this case and the AUSA ceased working in the district in late April 2011 and left federal service in early May 2011."

via legaltimes.typepad.com

News items of interest:

• State Dept. contracting officer under investigation for steering $52M of contracts to her secret husband.  See full article from Daily Caller at http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/19/state-dept-contract-officer-steers-52-million-to-secret-husband-daughter/.
• MSPB upholds removal of DHS Senior Special Agent, after he failed to establish whistleblower affirmative defense for (1) unauthorized queries of individuals on an official government computer database; (2) unauthorized disclosure; (3) misuse of position; and (4) lack of candor.  See MSPB opinion at http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=618847&version=620720&application=ACROBAT.
• MSPB dismissal of OSC case to remove an employee for violation of the Hatch Act is upheld.  OSC failed to comply with Board rules to state "with particularity any alleged violations of law or regulation, along with the supporting facts."  However, OSC may bring a new complaint.  See MSPB opinion at http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=621454&version=623336&application=ACROBAT

IG investigation into Defense Education Agency Director

The Inspector General for the Department of Defense substantiated multiple charges against the DoD Education Agency's former Director, including violations of the Joint Ethics Regulation and standards of conduct.  See Federal Times article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20110630/DEPARTMENTS01/106300306/1049/PERSONNEL and IG redacted report at: http://www.dodig.mil/fo/Foia/PDFs/MilesROIforreleaseRedacted.pdf.

A cautionary tale ... 10th Cir. Case

Decided last Friday in the 10th Circuit.  This is a cautionary tale about a GS-15 supervisor at HUD (Denver) who did not take any leave for trips to a casino, etc.  He now has an all-expenses paid vacation for a year and a day at an unnamed Federal facility for 10 counts of theft from the USA and 10 counts of wire fraud.  See full case at http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/10/10-3162.pdf.

Former US Marshal Service employee pleads guilty

Sno H. Rush, formerly an employee of the U.S. Marshall Servie, plead guilty to theft of $104,000 in government funds, and was sentenced to 21 months in prison and 3 years supervised probation. The money was appropriated by misuse of her position and government credit card and used to offset her personal credit card debt.  See US DOJ press release at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/May/11-crm-588.html.

Using Outlook Rule to Spy on Supervisor

US v. Szymuszkiewicz, 622 F. 3d 701 is an interesting Seventh Circuit decision. Here's the first paragraph of Justice Easterbrook's decision: 

David Szymuszkiewicz was in trouble at work. His driver's license had been suspended for driving while drunk. This threatened his job because, as a revenue officer, Szymuszkiewicz was required to travel to delinquent taxpayers' homes. He worried he might be fired. One response, a jury found, was to monitor email messages sent to his supervisor, Nella Infusino. She found out by accident when being trained to use Microsoft Outlook, her email client. She discovered a "rule" that directed Outlook to forward to Szymuszkiewicz all messages she received. Szymuszkiewicz was convicted under the Wiretap Act for intentionally intercepting an electronic communication.

Child Pornography Offenses by Government Employees

Mark Stone alerts us to an article entitled "Child Pornography Offenses by Government Employees" on pages 11-14 of the latest issue of The Journal of Public Inquiry.

Federal Charge Card Abuse Examined

Grassley Targets Federal Charge Card Abuses - The Center for Public Integrity.

Grassley has uncovered instances where cards were used to buy kitchen appliances, jewelry, gambling, cruises, and tabs at strip clubs and legalized brothels. The senator has singled out fraud at the Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration and Forest Service.

According to Grassley, millions in taxpayer dollars are being fraudulently wasted by government employees. His reform bill passed the Senate in 2009, but the House never took it up.

Grassley questions suspicious purchases made by Commerce officials

Grassley questions suspicious purchases made by Commerce officials (2/17/11) -- GovExec.com.

By law, officials can use the [Asset Forfeiture] fund to pay for certain "expenses directly related to investigations and civil or criminal proceedings." But the IG found that the Office of Law Enforcement and Office of General Counsel broadly interpreted the law to pay for a variety of materials, services, travel and training. As much as $96 million could have gone through the fund during the last five years, according to the report.

The nature of the fund "has led to allegations of questionable conduct on the part of enforcement officers who had an incentive to impose exorbitant penalties and fines on fishermen," [Senator] Grassley said.

IG Report: Ambassador Had Staff House Hunt

A Department of State IG report quoted in TPM Muckraker shows a downside of having subordinates work on matters of personal interest, like finding a temporary residence or refurbishing the bathroom at the ambassador's residence.

FBI Office of Professional Responsibility report on Agents behavior

CNN reports on the ethical and inappropriate conduct of FBI employees.  From documents obtained from the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, it appears that only 325-350 out of 34,300 FBI employees are disciplined each year, which bodes pretty well for their ethical conduct of the agency.  But it also shows some serious lack of judgment and conduct unbecoming a Federal employee.  See report at http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/27/siu.fbi.internal.documents/index.html. 

See related articles:

• FBI OPR document at http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/01/27/fbi.documents.siu.pdf
• TMP Media report at http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/fbi_agent_threatened_to_release_sex_tape_with_reporter.php?ref=fpb#. 

DoD OIG draft report on misuse of Govt purchase card at CENTCOM

Tampa Tribune reports: "U.S. Central Command 'wasted funds' by improperly using government purchasing cards to buy coins, cigar storage boxes, televisions and other items, according to a draft report released by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General.  The report chides officials for lax oversight and failing to enforce or follow rules involving about $40,000 in purchases."  See full article at http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/28/PMENEWSO1-centcom-buys-trouble-with-purchase-cards/

See DoD OIG Draft report: http://www.dodig.mil/Audit/reports/fy11/11-034.pdf

"Cycle of Sin" brings down senior Airman

Airman pleads guilty to multiple charges including misuse of position, and fights 13 others including misuse of government communication systems.  See Dayton Daily News article at http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/wright-patterson-airman-pleads-guilty-to-13-air-force-charges-1062915.html?printArticle=y

OSC found Bush Administration Officials violated the Hatch Act

OSC's report found the Office of Political Affairs acted more like a campaign office than an advisory office for the President, when it conducted political briefings for agency political appointees during work hours and in the Federal workplace.  OSC's investigation expanded to review other Hatch Act violations including improper classification of political travel as "official" and failure to seek reimbursement from political appointees for this political travel.  See OSC report http://www.osc.gov/documents/hatchact/STF%20Report%20Final.pdf

See also GovExec article http://blogs.govexec.com/fedblog/ and Politico article http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=601ACD52-7F25-4233-9CEB-78676900A53E.

Ethics related Justice Press Releases

• A former CIA officer was arrested Jan. 6, 2011, on charges that he illegally disclosed national defense information and obstructed justice.  See Justice press release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/January/11-crm-015.html.
• American Samoa Dept. of Education official pleads guilty to bribery.  See Justice press release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/January/11-crm-008.html.

Misconduct leads to removal

Former Navy employee who misused govt resources (govt vehicle and official time) loses appeal in personnel litigation because he lied to investigators.  See full Federal Circuit decision at http://www.fedsmith.com/articles/records/file/Cases/2010/Delapenia10_3116.pdf.

FDA Allegations

GovExec.com reports on allegations that a senior FDA official:

was conducting business from his Virginia home; regularly held training sessions and conferences in Texas so he could visit his family; used support and IT staff to do personal work for him; and authorized the payment of government contracting training at George Washington University for an OCI employee described as his "office mistress."

OGE 2009 Prosecution Survey

The Office of Government Ethics issued DAEOgram DO-10-017 on November 9, 2010 announcing the publication of the 2009 Conflict of Interest Prosecution Survey.   The survey contains summaries of cases involving conflict of interest violations.  The Department of Justice prosecuted the cases. See http://www.usoge.gov/ethics_guidance/daeograms/dgr_files/2010/do10017.pdf

DOJ IG report on US Attorney travel practies (Nov. 2010)

The report found most U.S. Attorney's followed the rules and per diem limits.  For the small number of U.S. Attorneys, who routinely exceeded the government rate, the IG found they did so by large amounts, with insufficient, inaccurate, or no justification.  See full report at http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/plus/o1011.pdf.

See also http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/11/08/inspector-general-report-targets-u-s-attorney-travel-costs/print/

Former State Dept. employee pleads guilty

Brooke E. Reyna, 28, of Barrington, N.H., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante in U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to making false statements in investigation about improper accessing of an official database for other than official purposes.  She is the tenth person to plead guilty in this continuing investigation.  See full press release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/November/10-crm-1258.html.

Former GSA official pleads guilty

A former GSA official, Daniel Voll, pleaded guilty to embezzling taxpayer money, incuring over $10,000 in expenses of a purely personal nature on his Govt credit card at various luxury hotels, dining and spa establishments, and then falsely representing them as legitimate business expenses.  He was sentenced to 3 months in prison as well as one year probation and was fined $100,000.  See DOJ Press Release at http://www.justice.gov/usao/can/press/2010/2010_04_01_voll.guiltyplea.press.html.

Additional details can be found on JunketSleuth.com a new website tracking Government Travel expenses.

Disclosure of non-public information

DOJ charges a husband and wife, former workers at Los Alamos, with transmitting classified nuclear weapons data to the detriment of the US.  See full press release at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/September/10-nsd-1044.html

Ethics In the News

Two news articles of interest:

• FBI press release on may indicted for several crimes including unauthorized use of military agency seals to fake official documents. See full release at http://memphis.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/me081910.htm 
• Former NASA official pleads guilty to steers $600K contract to his consulting client, while serving as a Special Government Employee.  See full article at http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=45971&dcn=e_gvet

SSA Admin Law Judge loses appeal on his removal

A Social Security Administration (SSA) Administrative Law Judge has lost his job for, among other things, misuse of government resources:

1.  Using his government computer to store explicit photos and run a personal business.

2.  Use of agency letterhead for personal corresponence.

See Steverson v. Social Security Administration, C.A.F.C. No. 2009-3287 (nonprecedential), 6/17/10; http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions/09-3287.pdf.

Former NSA employee indicted for leaking classified information

While the charges were not under ethics laws, this former NSA employee improperly disclosed non-public (classified) information to a journalist.  The article is an interesting discussion of the problems associated with punishing this kind of public service misconduct.  See full article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/us/16indict.html?scp=2&sq=nsa&st=cse

Fed. Cir. upholds removal of employee for misuse of govt resources

An NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) employee fired for accessing the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database for personal reasons, got no sympathy from the federal appeals court in her bid to win back her job. (Valdez v. Department of the Navy, C.A.F.C. No. 2010-3035 (nonprecedential), 3/17/10)

Misuse of Government computer

Surfing for pornography from a government computer is getting some publicity.  It was considered serious enough for EC IG to mention it in its latest Congressional report.  See full article at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/02/sec-workers-investigated-for-viewing-porn-at-work//print/ 

Multiple Employees Convicted for Accessing Passport Files

A Department of Justice press release reports on the conviction of one State Department employee for illegally accessing passport files, and briefly describes the situations of seven others convicted previously.

Former Interior Secretary Under Investigation?

A New York Times story reports that the Department of Justice is investigating allegations that a former Secretary of the Interior transferred valuable shale oil leases to Royal Dutch Shell around the time she was considering employment with that company on leaving government service.

Time for Fantasy Football Reminder?

Fantasy football leagues s seem to be gaining on NCAA pools in popularity.  This may be a good time to remind your workforce about the applicable law, including 41 C.F.R. § 102-74.395, which forbids all persons entering in or on Federal property from participating in games for money or other personal property, operating gambling devices, conducting a lottery or pool, or selling or purchasing numbers tickets.

 

Page 69 of the DOD "Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure" lists a couple of fantasy football league examples.

UF Professor accused of NASA Grant Fraud

Federal investigators allege that 59 year old Samim Anghaie, a professor at the University of Florida, and three of his family members fraudulently received millions of dollars from NASA and then laundered money to personal bank accounts, court documents show.  Full story at:

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090226/NEWS01/902260317/1006/news01

For more information on this alleged fraud:

http://www.mahalo.com/Samim_Anghaie

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/25/professor.raid/index.html

Employee removal for in part misuse of Gov credit card upheld.

Among other charges, this Federal employee was removed for misusing the Government credit card which was provide for her to charge her move to Washington DC.  See non-precedential FedCir case at http://www.fedsmith.com/articles/records/file/Stribling08-3336.pdf 

No Ordinary Abuse

We try to give a low priority to stories of garden variety abuses by government employees, because they tend to give a misleading impression of a workforce that is overwhelmingly honest and competent. However, an IEC member sent us a link to one story of such audacious misconduct as to make it an instructional example that will hold an audience's attention:

Federal prosecutors say a Kansas City man and woman used a government computer at the US Department of Agriculture in Kansas City to run two online prostitution businesses. The web sites were called USA Honies and Darc Phoenix.

Edited Jan. 22 to correct typo.

Using Government Employees To Benefit Private Business

From the Boston Globe:

Several US marshals and a lawyer for the federal agency violated ethics regulations by assigning deputy marshals to escort Fox Sports broadcasters to and from sporting events, including two games of the 2007 World Series in Boston, according to a report released yesterday by US Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

The IG report is available at the DOJ web site.

Employee's removal for violation of last chance agreement upheld

VA employee was removed for misusing his government computer--sending obsene images.  The case was settled with a last chance agreement, which waived his rights to appeal as well as reinstated his removal if he engaged in inappropriate conduct.  Employee was later removed for inappropriate conduct, including inappropriate comments to and about female co-workers.

See opinion at http://www.fedsmith.com/articles/records/file/Melendez%2008-3207-1.pdf

Removal for Credit Card Misuse Upheld

The Fedmanager blog (operated by the law firm of Shaw, Bransford, Veilleux & Roth, P.C. has a summary of Hickman v. USPS, a case in which the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the termination of a Postal Service manager who was guilty not merely of improper use of a credit card, but repeated failure to pay the bill, failure to schedule a supervisor (thus leaving a postal facility unattended), and improper alteration of time records. The appellant's managerial status was an aggravating factor that outweighed the lack of a previous record and other mitigating factors.

Article on Treasury OIG re misuse of transit benefits

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is charging the Treasury Department's OIG with dragging his feet in firing two senior subordinates put on leave for improperly taking transit fare subsidies and interfering with investigations. http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=40407&printerfriendlyvers=1

Educ. audit shows employee misuse of credit cards

Dept. of Educ. employees inappropriately used government credit cards to purchase $49,500 worth of goods and services, including meals, items at clothing stores and rental cars, for personal use, according to a review by the department's inspector general.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/05/AR2008070501400_pf.html

Postal employees removal due to misuse of travel card

Federal Circuit upheld removal of two postal employees for (in part) misuse of government travel cards (nonprecedential decisions).

Hickmon v. USPS http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions/08-3109.pdf

Powe v. USPS http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions/08-3006.pdf

On-the-Job Blogger Busted at NASA

Federal Computer Week reports on the suspension of a NASA employee for political blogging from his workplace:

A NASA employee has been suspended for soliciting donations and writing politically partisan blog posts and sending e-mail messages while at work, violations of the Hatch Act.

Office of the Special Counsel officials said a Johnson Space Center employee promoted local and state political candidates in 2006 and 2007 through his Internet writings.

The officials also found the employee solicited small campaign donations two times in 2006 through blogs.

CAUTION: misuse of gov computer can raise more than ethics violations

Fedsmith article on Federal employee who used Gov. computer for on-line dating and got embroiled in an identity scam.  http://www.fedsmith.com/article/1598/

Unauthorized IRS Employee Data Access

Kevin Poulson's Wired magazine blog has a post about five IRS employees disciplined for "UNAX," or unauthorized access of taxpayer information. Several of the reader comments section are instructive in demonstrating the extreme negative public reaction, including the following:

OK well from the above stats, and those stats showing a rise in cases (a twenty percent rise since 1998 assuming an upward trend), the problem is obvious. LACK OF PROSECUTION AND ENFORCEMENT. In other words laws with teeth-sending people to jail, is the only thing that will diminish this, if not stop it.

Looking at the numbers, let's assume an average of 500 cases per year of UAX (unauthorized access) AND these are only the KNOWN cases. So over ten years that's approx. 5,000 cases of UNAX, yet as stated above there have only been 187 prosecutions in that whole time frame. That's less than a 4 % prosecution rate of UAX!!! 4 %!

96 % of the cases went without prosecutions. Again that's not taking into account UNKNOWN UAX, and assuming a 100 % conviction rate.

That's ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! RIDICULOUS! As long as the IRS gives its employees no punishment, the crime will continue. Somebody needs to hold congressional hearings, widescale, BIGTIME. Even assuming the average case per year is lower, and that this is some spike, that's still less than 10 % (assuming the average number is half) of UAX cases facing prosecution. Yeah, go ahead look at private tax information, oh and when you get back from your vacation, try not to do it again. Lack of accountability=fox guarding hen house.

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.

Purchase Card Misuse--Another Perspective

OhMyGov! has a different view of the news reports cited yesterday:

Headlines like this weekend's create and encourage an undeserved distrust in government: a tasteless but successful attempt to tar the majority of employees with a brush that should be reserved for only a few.  We don't question that waste exists and must be eliminated.  Instead, we encourage a more deliberate investigative reporting process to help the public recognize the true source of the waste.  After all, it's important we recognize the success in government, not just the failures.  Headlines that infer a greater proportion of egregious behavior tarnish the image of the over 240,000 dedicated federal employees of the Veterans Health Administration who are responsible for running the nation's largest integrated care system for over 5 million veterans worldwide.  And that just isn't fair.

Thanks to Fedblog for the pointer.