CIA Ethics Education: Background and Perspectives (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised June 11, 2018 |
| Report Number |
IF10906 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Michael E. DeVine |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
In the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), there are two
distinct categories of ethics education: One applies to all
government agencies and the other to the conduct of
activities in the intelligence community specifically.
The Ethics in Government Act (EIGA) (P.L. 95-521),
enacted in 1978, established financial disclosure
guidelines and restrictions on outside earned income for
employees of all government agencies. The EIGA also
established the Office of Government Ethics (OGE)
whose mission is to provide overall leadership and
oversight of the executive branch ethics program
designed to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest.
OGE oversees government departments and agencies
including the CIA. Its focus is generally on records
administration and training related to potential conflictsof-interest,
outside employment, interpersonal
relationships, and gifts. The CIA’s ethics program,
mandated through the EIGA, includes ethics orientation
for new employees and mandatory annual ethics
refresher training for the entire workforce. The most
recent OGE assessment of the CIA’s ethics program was
completed in November 2017. OGE does not have
jurisdiction over the CIA’s intelligence activities.
CIA officers also receive extensive ethics training
specific to intelligence, which includes case studies of
ethically challenging operational scenarios, to prepare
them for the operational side of their jobs. This training
includes familiarization with the legal authorities for the
conduct of intelligence activities, principally Executive
Order 12333, The Intelligence Community, as amended,
and CIA’s AR 2-2, Law and Policy Governing the
Conduct of Intelligence Activities. However, while these
baseline references spell out dos and don’ts from a legal
standpoint, there is little mention of ethics per se.
Section 2.1, of E.O. 12333, for example, merely requires
intelligence collection be done in a manner that is
“respectful of the principles upon which the United
States was founded.”
