RECENT ETHICS REFORM LEGISLATION AND EXECUTIVE ORDER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92G00017R000700080002-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 12, 2014
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: April 21, 1989
• Content Type: MEMO

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OGC-89-50916
21 April 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Administration
FROM: Russell J. Bruemmer
General Counsel
SUBJECT: Recent Ethics Reform Legislation and
Executive Order
1. On 12 April, the President introduced two major
initiatives to strengthen ethics within the Government. First,
the President signed an Executive Order entitled "Principles of
Ethical Conduct for Government Officers and Employees."
Second, the President sent to the Hill comprehensive ethics
reform legislation entitled the "Government-Wide Ethics Act of
1989."
2. I cannot hope to summarize in this short paper the full
range of provisions contained in these initiatives. The
proposed ethics bill is 97 pages long, and we will be working
with OCA to prepare a summary of the key provisions. I would
like, however, to emphasize below some of the major provisions
of the Executive Order that will affect Agency employees and
management. (I am attaching, for your use, a copy of the
Executive Order signed by the President, which is effective as
of 12 April.) A similar memorandum is being sent to each
regular attendee of the Tuesday morning staff meeting.
3. The provisions of the Executive Order include the
following:
- The new Executive Order sets forth fourteen fundamental
principles of ethical conduct for employees of the executive
branch. These principles, which are very similar to those
currently in effect, generally prohibit the use of official
office and information for personal or private gain.
- In particular, the Order prohibits full-time non-career
Presidential appointees from receiving any earned income for
outside employment or activity during their Presidential
appointments. This prohibition, which is stricter than a
provision of the proposed legislation, does not apply to
preexisting contractual obligations entered into before the
effective date of the order.
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SUBJECT: Recent Ethics Reform Legislation and Executive Order
- The Order tasks the Office of Government Ethics (OGE)
with developing a single set of regulations governing executive
branch conduct, with issuing regulations concerning
confidential financial reporting, and with issuing regulations
interpreting certain criminal statutes.
- Federal agency responsibilities are greatly increased
under the Order. Significantly, each agency will now be
responsible for providing mandatory annual training briefings
on ethics for all senior officials and certain designated
employees and for obtaining approval from OGE for such training
plans. The Order also requires all agencies to evaluate their
ethics programs and to provide adequate support for such
programs, including the use of a separate budget line item,
where applicable.
- Agencies are directed to consult, where practicable,
with OGE prior to granting waivers of conflict-of-interest
requirements, and to provide OGE with a copy of any waiver
granted.
- All agency heads are directed to ensure the review by
all employees of the Executive Order and regulations
promulgated thereto.
- Executive Order 11222, signed during the Johnson
Administration, is repealed.
4. If you should have any aneqtion.q rmirprninn this
matter,
staff on
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2
of my
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STAT
STAT
STAT
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
niI Cgumel
..y,
For Immediate Release April 12, 1989
EXECUTIVE ORDER
PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL CONDUCT
FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
By virtue of the authority vested in me as President by
the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, and
in order to establish fair and exacting standards of ethical
conduct for all executive branch employees, it is hereby
ordered as follows:
PART I - PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL CONDUCT
Section 101. Principles of Ethical Conduct. To
ensure that every citizen can have complete confidence in the
integrity of the Federal Government, each Federal employee
shall respect and adhere to the fundamental principles of
ethical service as implemented in regulations promulgated
under sections 201 and 301 of this order:
(a) Public service is a public trust, requiring
employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and
ethical principles above private gain.
(b) Employees shall not hold financial interests that
conflict with the conscientious performance of duty.
(c) Employees shall not engage in financial transactions'
using nonpublic Government information or allow the improper
use of such information to further any private interest.
(d) An employee shall not, except pursuant to such
reasonable exceptions as are provided by regulation, solicit
or accept any gift or other item of monetary value from any
person or entity seeking official action from, doing business
with, or conducting activities regulated by the employee's
agency, or whose interests may be substantially affected by
the performance or nonperformance of the employee's duties.
(e) Employees shall put forth honest effort in the
performance of their duties.
(f)
promises
(g)
gain.
Employees shall make no unauthorized commitments or
of any kind purporting to bind the Government.
Employees shall not use public office for private
(h) Employees shall act impartially and not give
preferential treatment to any private organization or
individual.
(i) Employees shall protect and conserve Federal
property and shall not use it for other than authorized
activities.
more
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(j) Employees shall not engage in outside employment or
activities, including seeking or negotiating for employment,
that conflict with official Government duties and
responsibilities.
(k) Employees shall disclose waste,. fraud, abuse, and
corruption to appropriate authorities.
(1) Employees shall satisfy in good faith their
obligations as citizens, including all just financial
obligations, especially those -- such as Federal, State, or
local taxes -- that are imposed by law.
(m) Employees shall adhere to all laws and regulations
that provide equal opportunity for all Americans regardless
of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or
handicap.
(n) Employees shall endeavor to avoid any actions
creating the appearance that they are violating the law or the
ethical standards promulgated pursuant to this order.
Sec. 102. Limitations on Outside Earned Income. No
employee who is appointed by the President to a full-time
noncareer position in the executive branch, including all
full-time employees in the White House Office and the Office
of Policy Development, shall receive any earned income for any
outside employment or activity performed during that
Presidential appointment.
PART II - OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS AUTHORITY
Sec. 201. The Office of Government Ethics. The Office
of Government Ethics shall be responsible for administering
this order by:
(a) Promulgating, in consultation with the
Attorney General and the Office of Personnel Management,
regulations that establish a single, comprehensive, and clear
set of executive-branch standards of conduct that shall be
objective, reasonable, and enforceable.
(b) Developing, disseminating, and periodically updating
an ethics reference manual for employees of the executive
branch describing the applicable statutes, rules, decisions,
and policies.
(c) Promulgating, with the concurrence of the Attorney
General, regulations interpreting the provisions of the
general conflict-of-interest statute, section 208 of
title 18, United States Code, and the statute prohibiting
supplementation of salaries, section 209 of title 18,
United States Code.
(d) Promulgating, in consultation with the Attorney
General and the Office of Personnel Management, regulations
establishing a system of nonpublic (confidential) financial
disclosure by executive branch employees to complement the
system of public disclosure under the Ethics in Government Act
of 1978. Such regulations shall include criteria to guide
agencies in determining which employees shall submit these
reports.
(e) Ensuring that any implementing regulations issued by
agencies under this order are consistent with and promulgated
in accordance with this order.
more
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Sec. 202. Executive Office of the President. In that
the agencies within the Executive Office of the President
(EOP) currently exercise functions that are not distinct and
separate from each other within the meaning and for the
purposes of section 207(e) of title 18, United States Code,
those agencies shall be treated as one agency under
section 207(c) of title 18, United States Code.
PART III - AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES
Sec. 301. Agency Responsibilities. Each agency head is
directed to:
(a) Supplement, as necessary and appropriate, the
comprehensive executive-branch-wide regulations of the
Office of Government Ethics, with regulations of special
applicability to the particular functions and activities of
that agency. Any supplementary regulations shall be prepared
as addenda to the branch-wide regulations and promulgated with
the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics.
(b) Ensure the review by all employees of this order and
regulations promulgated pursuant to the order.
(c) Coordinate with the Office of Government Ethics
in developing annual agency ethics training plans. Such
training shall include mandatory annual briefings on ethics
and standards of conduct for all employees appointed by the
President, all employees in the Executive Office of the
President, all officials required to file public or nonpublic
financial disclosure reports, all employees who are
contracting officers and procurement officials, and any other
employees designated by the agency head.
(d) Where practicable, consult formally or informally
with the Office of Government Ethics prior to granting any
exemption under section 208 of title 18, United States Code,
and provide the Director of the Office of Government Ethics a
copy of any exemption granted.
(e) Ensure that the rank, responsibilities, authority,
staffing, and resources of the Designated Agency Ethics
Official are sufficient to ensure the effectiveness of the
agency ethics program. Support should include the provision
of a separate budget line item for ethics activities, where
practicable.
PART IV - DELEGATIONS OF AUTHORITY
Sec. 401. Delegations to Agency Heads. Except as
provided in section 402 and except in the case of the head of
an agency, the authority of the President under section 208(b)
of title 18, United States Code, to grant exemptions to
individuals, is delegated to the head of the agency in which
an individual requiring an exemption is employed or to which
the individual is attached for purposes of administration.
Sec. 402. Delegations to the Counsel to the President.
The authority of the President under section 208(b) of
title 18, United States Code, to grant exemptions for
Presidential appointees to committees, commissions, boards,
or similar groups established by the President is delegated
to the Counsel to the President.
Sec. 403. Delegation Regarding Civil Service. The
Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Government
Ethics, as appropriate, are delegated the authority vested in
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the President by 5 U.S.C. 7301 to establish general
regulations for the implementation of this Executive order.
PART V - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 501. Revocations. The following are hereby
revoked:
(a) Executive Order No. 11222 of May 8, 1965.
(b) Executive Order No. 12565 of September 25, 1986.
Sec. 502. Savings Provision.
(a) All actions already taken by the President or by his
delegates concerning matters affected by this order and in
force when this order is issued, including any regulations
issued under Executive Order 11222, Executive Order 12565 or
statutory authority, shall, except as they are irreconcilable
with the provisions of this order or terminate by operation of
law or by Presidential action, remain in effect until properly
amended, modified, or revoked pursuant to the authority
conferred by this order or any regulations promulgated under
this order. Notwithstanding anything in section 102 of this
order, employees may carry out preexisting contractual
obligations entered into before the date of this order.
(b) Financial reports filed in confidence (pursuant to
the authority of Executive Order No. 11222, 5 C.F.R. Part 735,
and individual agency regulations) shall continue to be held
in confidence.
Sec. 503. Definitions. For purposes of this order, the
term:
(a) "Contracting officers and procurement officials"
means all such officers and officials as defined in the Office
of Federal Procurement Policy Act Amendments of 1988.
(b) "Employee means any officer or employee of an
agency, including a special Government employee.
(c) "Agency" means any executive agency as defined in
5 U.S.C. 105, including any executive department as defined in
5 U.S.C. 101, Government corporation as defined in 5 U.S.C.
103, or an independent establishment in the executive branch
as defined in 5 U.S.C. 104 (other than the General Accounting
Office), and the United States Postal Service and Postal Rate
Commission.
(d) "Head of an agency" means, in the case of an agency
headed by more than one person, the chair or comparable member
of such agency.
(e) "Special Government employee" means a special
Government employee as defined in 18 U.S.C. 202(a).
Sec. 504. Judicial Review. This order is intended only
to improve the internal management of the executive branch and
is not intended to create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law by a party against the
United States, its agencies, its officers, or any person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 12, 1989.
# # #
GEORGE BUSH
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