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Ethics in a Presidential Transition Year

• Presented by

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Outline

• Seeking Employment
• Disqualification
• Termination of Restrictions
• Common Questions
• Procurement Integrity Act
• Darleen Druyun Case Study
• Post Employment
• New Requirement
• Bans on Representation/Lobbying
• Other Restrictions for Senior Officials
• Political Activity
• Training Credit
• Closing Comments
• Questions

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The Rules on Seeking Employment

• How to Get a Great Job Without Getting in Trouble

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Seeking Employment

• You are seeking employment when you
• Submit a resume, job application, or make an
  unsolicited employment contact with a prospective
  employer, or
• Respond to (other than reject) an unsolicited
  overture regarding employment, or
• Engage in employment discussions with a
  prospective employer
• You are not seeking employment when you
• Ask someone to critique your resume or
• Ask advice from a friend or mentor about the job
  seeking process or
• Submit a resume to, or contact a head hunter
• Request a job application or general information
  about a prospective employer

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Seeking Employment (cont.)

• Why do you need to be careful?
• Because once you start seeking post-government
  employment, you are deemed to have an actual
  financial interest in your prospective employer.
• Conflict of interest laws regulations may apply

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Disqualification

• To avoid violating the law
• Take no official action with regard to a company
  with which you are seeking employment
• Complete a written disqualification statement,
  if
• You anticipate participating personally
  and substantially in a particular
  matter that will have a direct and predictable
  effect on the financial interests of the
  prospective employer (routine or superficial
  involvement not enough to trigger requirement if
  company has no relationship or dealings with
  your current work, disqualification not
  required)
• Work with your supervisor and subordinates to set
  up an appropriate screening and referral process
  to ensure your disqualification is effective

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Termination of Restrictions

• You are no longer seeking employment when
• Either you or a prospective employer reject the
  possibility of employment and discussions have
  terminated,
• or
• Two months have passed after mailing a resume and
  no response has been received from the
  prospective employer

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Common Questions

• When can I look for a job?
• When you are ready.
• Do I have to prepare a written disqualification?
• Yes, the DoD Joint Ethics Regulation requires you
  to notify your supervisor in writing, and a copy
  should be sent to the Standards of Conduct
  Office.
• What am I disqualified from?
• Any official action on a particular matter that
  could impact the financial interest of the
  prospective employer. Examples include granting
  licenses, grants, contracts, or loans, or
  involvement in litigation, regulations, or policy
  matters focused on the interests of a discrete
  and identifiable class.

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Common Questions (cont.)

• How do I respond if someone approaches me about
  future employment?
• Decide if you are interested.
• If yes, immediately disqualify yourself.
• If not, no further action is required.
• What kind of responses constitute rejection of
  possible employment?
• Thanks, but Im not interested.
• Im not entertaining any job possibilities until
  the end of the Administration.
• Im too busy at work to consider a new job, so
  Im in no position to consider your offer.
• I cant be recused from any of my current
  responsibilities, so Im afraid my answer must be
  no.

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Common Questions (cont.)

• What kind of responses do not constitute
  rejection of possible employment?
• Let me think about it and get back to you.
• I dont know. Could we set up a time to talk?
• Id have a conflict with what Im working on
  right now, but that should wrap up in the next
  week or two. We can talk then.
• Ive disqualified myself. The prospective
  employer wants to take me to lunch or fly my
  spouse and me to meet executives at the
  headquarters. Can I accept any of this?
• Yes, after disqualification you may accept gifts
  of meals, transportation, lodging, and other
  benefits, if customarily provided by the
  prospective employer in connection with
  recruiting for similar level positions.
• Benefits exceeding 335 must be reported on your
  Public Financial Disclosure Report (SF278),
  Sched. B, Part II.

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Common Questions (cont.)

• Can the conflict of interest laws on looking for
  employment be waived?
• Yes, but . . .
• Its very unlikely that you will receive a waiver
  to discuss employment, at the same time youre
  working on a Government matter affecting that
  company or entity.

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Procurement Integrity Act

• Special reporting rules for procurement officials
  seeking employment
• You may not take official action on procurements
  ?100K involving prospective employers
• If you were involved in a procurement ?100K and
  have employment contact with a bidder or offeror,
  you must
• Disqualify yourself from all work relating to
  that procurement
• Provide a written contact report to your
  supervisor, the contracting officer, and the
  Source Selection Official
• Disclosure of pre-award procurement information
  is prohibited (present and former officials)

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Darleen Druyun Case Study

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Druyun Timeline

• August 2002 Druyan met with Boeing CFO, Sears,
  and discussed in general terms the possibility of
  her future employment with Boeing
• August 2002 Air Force ethics officials prepared
  for Druyan a disqualification memo for Lockheed
  Martin and Raytheon
• September 3, 2002 Druyans daughter, a Boeing
  employee, contacts Sears to discuss terms of
  Boeing employment for Druyan
• September 26, 2002 Druyan and Sears negotiate
  the final price for a NATO contract for 1.32
  Billion

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Druyun Timeline (cont.)

• October 17, 2002 Druyan and Sears meet
  privately in the Orlando airport and discuss
  position, terms of employment, and reach
  handshake deal
• October 18, 2002 Sears sends e-mail to senior
  Boeing Managers describing his non-meeting with
  Druyan regarding employment
• November 5, 2002 Druyan submits recusal letter
  for Boeing and meets with Sears in the Pentagon
  to discuss details of the employment offer
• November 13, 2002 Boeing sends formal offer of
  employment to Druyan which she accepts in
  December

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Results of the Druyun Case

• Druyun pled guilty to violating 18 USC 208,
  taking official actions regarding a potential
  employer. Sentenced to 9 months in jail, 3 years
  probation, 150 hours of community service, and a
  5000 fine
• Sears pled guilty to aiding and abetting acts
  affecting a personal financial interest. He was
  sentenced to four months in prison, a 250,000
  fine, and 200 hours of community service
• The Boeing Company admitted to corruption charges
  involving conflicts of interest and other
  unrelated violations. Boeing settled with the
  Justice Department for 615 million. 20 billion
  tanker lease cancelled

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Results of the Druyun Case

• Negotiating with Employer While Engaged in
  Official Matters Earns 5,000 Fine
• The Chief of Staff for the Presidents Critical
  Infrastructure Protection Board in the Office of
  Homeland Security participated in negotiations
  with a company for a contract to provide support
  functions for the Board
• At the same time, he was speaking with the
  company about prospective employment. The Chief
  of Staff interviewed with the company for a job
  on July 18
• Received a job offer on July 23
• Did not submit a letter of recusal until July 24
  accepted the offer on August 1
• When the White House Counsels Office learned of
  the timeline of the employment offer, it referred
  the matter to the Department of Justice
• The company withdrew the job offer and the former
  Chief of Staff paid a 5,000 fine to settle the
  matter

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Post Government Employment
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Post Employment New Requirement

• Section 847 of the 2008 National Defense
  Authorization Act
• Requires certain current and former DoD personnel
  to request written post-employment advice if they
  will receive compensation from a DoD contractor
  within two years of leaving DoD.
• Covered personnel include senior officials who
  serve/served in a procurement position and
  participated personally and substantially in an
  acquisition over 10M.
• Imposes penalties on DoD contractors who pay
  individuals, who did not request or receive
  post-employment advice.
• Impact What does this mean for you?
• Plan ahead and seek ethics guidance on seeking
  and post-government employment well in advance of
  your departure.

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Bans on Representation/Lobbying

• General Rule Former personnel have
  representational restrictions barring
  communicating or appearing for others, with the
  intent to influence, before the Executive and
  Judicial branches.
• Lifetime Ban Permanently bars former personnel
  who participated in particular matters involving
  specific parties from lobbying back to any
  Federal agency or Judicial Branch on that matter
  for the life of that matter.
• 2-Year Ban Bars former employees from lobbying
  back to the Government for two years on matters
  involving specific parties that were pending
  under their responsibility during their last year
  as Govt employee.
• 1-year Cooling Off Bars senior officials from
  coming back to their former agency when they are
  seeking official action. (Senior officials
  include SES whose basic pay is 148,953 or above
  in 08).

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Bans on Representation/Lobbying (cont.)

• Even when one of the previous bans applies,
  generally it will not preclude employment,
  accepting compensation, or behind-the-scenes
  assistance
• Exceptions to the bans include
• requests for publicly available documents
• status inquiries
• purely social contacts
• public commentary under certain circumstances
• Reflection These bans are designed to eliminate
  or reduce the appearance that the Government is
  being unduly influenced by a former employee.

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Bans on Representation/Lobbying (cont.)

• Other Rules Additional restrictions may apply to
  procurement officials, retiring military members,
  and those who worked on treaties or want to
  assist foreign governments.
• May prohibit even behind-the-scenes advice
• Foreign Entity Ban
• One year restriction on aiding, advising, or
  representing a foreign government or political
  party w/ the intent to influence Congress or any
  Federal agency
• Trade and Treaty Ban
• Similar one year restriction applies to aiding
  and advising another on trade or treaty
  negotiations that you worked on in your final
  year of Government service.

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Other Restrictions for Senior Officials

• Non-Public Information Non-public information
  may never be disclosed, even after leaving
  Government service (classified, sensitive,
  budgetary, procurement, etc.)
• Reminder Public Financial Disclosure Report (SF
  278) filers must file a termination report, no
  earlier than their last day and no later than 30
  days after leaving DoD.
• Untimely submissions may result in a 200 fine.
• Failure to file may result in referral to the
  Justice Department

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Political Activity

• The Law The Hatch Act governs partisan political
  activities of Federal employees.
• What is partisan political activity? An activity
  directed toward the success or failure of a
• Political Party
• Candidate for Partisan Political Office, or
• Partisan Political Group
• DoD Policy DoD policy additionally restricts
  employees. Generally, you are prohibited from
  engaging in partisan political activity in the
  workplace and during duty hours.
• See handout, DepSecDef Memo, Nov. 14, 2007

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Political Activity (cont.)

• General Rule All DoD employees (PAS, Career and
  Non-Career SES, GS, NSPS, WG, Military) are
  prohibited from engaging in the following
  activities.
• You may not
• use official authority or influence to interfere
  or affect election results
• solicit, accept, or receive a political
  contribution from anyone (with certain very
  narrow exceptions)
• run for partisan political office (with certain
  very narrow exceptions)
• engage in any partisan political activity while
  on duty, in a government office or building, in
  uniform, or using a Government owned or leased
  vehicle.
• 5 U.S.C. 7323-7324 DoD Directive 1344.10

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Training Credit

• In order to receive annual ethics training
  credit, you must
• Sign-in on the sheets provided and
• Stay for the entire training
• You will receive confirmation of your credited
  training via email after training is complete.

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Closing Comments

• Always do right. This will gratify some people
  and astonish the rest.
• Mark Twain

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Questions?