SOCO ADVISORY

Department of Defense February 13, 2004

Office of General Counsel Number 04-02

Standards of Conduct Office (SOCO) soco@dodgc.osd.mil

1. Updated Guidance on Civilian Employees’ Participation in Political Activities now

available on SOCO web site.

On January 21, 2004, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued updated guidance on civilian employees’ participation in political activities. The guidance is posted on our web site at http://www.defenselink.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/ under Ethics Resource Library, under DoD Guidance. This Memorandum replaces the Memorandum dated February 7, 2000. The Memorandum highlights the need for civilian employees to avoid real or apparent conflicts of interest with the full and impartial performance of their official duties. Personnel are also cautioned about the prohibition against soliciting or receiving political contributions. The Department is continuing its long-standing policy of placing restrictions on the political activities of non-career SES members and officials who are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate (PAS). Finally, unlike the previous memorandum that listed prohibited activities only for career SES officials, members of the Contract Appeals Boards, and all NSA, DIA and NGA employees and for PAS and non-Career SES officials, the new Memorandum also lists permitted political activities for these employees.

2. Beware of Microsoft Software Computer gifts.

Recently, a number of personnel have received full versions of Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 through the mail from Microsoft Corporation. These gifts were preceded in the mail by a card announcing that the software would be arriving "in the coming weeks." The card noted that the software products were being sent "without obligation."

These items have been determined to be gifts from a prohibited source, and may not be accepted by DoD employees. 5 CFR 2635.202. Accordingly, we request that Ethics Counselors alert their organizations to this situation, and advise military and civilian personnel that they are not permitted to accept these gifts. If received, the items should be returned to Microsoft.

3. Advisory Committee Guidance for Members and for Designated Federal Officers.

DoD SOCO has posted its latest ethics guidance for Federal Advisory Committee Members at http://www.defenselink.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/ under Ethics Resource Library, under DoD Guidance. “The Ethics Guide for Consultants and Advisory Committee Members at the Department of Defense” is a briefing paper summarizing the ethics rules as they apply to consultants. Feel free to give it to your consultants and special Government employees. In addition, the web site also includes guidance for Designated Federal Officers, usually the Committee Managers, so that they are better able to assist ethics counselors in identifying potential conflicts of interest before the committee meets. That document is referred to as “Keeping Committees Clear of Ethical Problems: An Ethics Guide for Designated Federal Officials of DoD Advisory Committees.” Both publications are meant to help all of us when advising consultants and in working with Designated Federal Officers.

4. 2003 Listing of 10 Companies Receiving Largest Dollar Volume of Contracts with DoD now available.

The top 10 companies receiving the largest dollar volume of prime contract awards at DoD is published annually. The most recent listing is available at http://web1.whs.osd.mil/peidhome/procstat/p01/fy2003/top100.htm. The Senate Armed Services Committee requires that military officers who are nominated for 3 and 4 star officer positions divest stock in the top 10 companies doing business with DoD.

Three companies from last year’s top 10, TRW Incorporated, Health Net, Inc. and L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc., are no longer on the list. This year’s list includes 3 new companies: Halliburton Company, General Electric Company, and Computer Sciences Corporation. Ethics officials in this Department should review the current public financial disclosure filer reports of 3 and 4 star officers to determine if, because of the new company additions to the list, divestiture is required.

5. Two Social Security Employees Sentenced for Conspiracy to Defraud the Government.

Two former Social Security Administration employees, Stephanie Woods and Sharlene Woods (no relation to each other), were sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas for misusing their positions to cause Social Security cards to be issued to individuals not authorized to receive the cards. An indictment charged that, by engaging in a conspiracy to input personal information from social security applications into the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) computer data base in Baltimore, the two women caused the SSA to mail social security cards to 201 individuals who were not authorized to receive the cards, according to a press release. They conspired to input information that falsely represented that certain alien applicants were lawfully admitted into the United States and permitted to work when, in fact, the aliens were in the United States illegally. The indictment also charged that Stephanie Woods paid Sharlene Woods to obtain personal background information from the SSA databases. Stephanie Woods was paid for providing this information to others to facilitate credit card fraud. As a result of their actions, eight credit card holders experienced losses. Both Stephanie Woods and Sharlene Woods pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the SSA. On March 30, 2001, Judge Melinda Harmon sentenced Stephanie Woods to serve twenty-seven months in prison followed by 3 years of probation. Judge Harmon sentenced Sharlene Woods to 5 years of probation to include 6 months of home confinement. United States v. Woods, et al., Cr. No. 00-758 (S.D. Tex. 2001). (Many thanks to the Federal Ethics Report for this information.)

Jeff Green

Senior Attorney

DoD Standards of Conduct Office