The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is an executive branch agency which is responsible for overseeing and providing guidance on Government ethics for the executive branch, including the ethics programs of executive departments and agencies. OGE was created by the Ethics in Government Act (“the Act”) of 1978, Public Law No. 95-521, as amended. OGE was originally part of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Public Law No. 100-598 of November 3, 1988, provided for OGE's separate agency status, effective October 1, 1989. The Act created OGE to provide overall direction for executive branch policies designed to prevent conflicts of interest and to help insure high ethical standards on the part of agency officers and employees. Pursuant to the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (Public Law No. 101-194), as revised by the technical amendments of May 4, 1990 (Public Law No. 101-280), OGE is the “supervising ethics office” for the executive branch for various purposes, including public and confidential financial disclosure reporting by executive agency officials. OGE also has various Government ethics guidance responsibilities under Executive Order 12674 of April 12, 1989, “Principles of Ethical Conduct for Government Officers and Employees” (3 CFR 1989 Compilation, pp. 215-218).

The Office of Government Ethics is located at suite 500, 1201 New York Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20005-3917. OGE has no regional offices.

(a) The Office of Government Ethics is divided into the following offices:

(1) The Office of the Director;

(2) The Office of the General Counsel;

(3) The Office of Monitoring and Compliance;

(4) The Office of Education; and

(5) The Office of Administration.

(b) The Office of the Director. The Director of the Office of Government Ethics is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The responsibilities of the OGE Director include: Advising the White House and executive branch Presidential appointees on Government ethics matters; maintaining ethics liaison with and providing guidance on ethics to executive branch departments and agencies; providing ethics liaison to the Congress; responding to public and press inquiries on ethics; and overseeing and coordinating all OGE rules, regulations, formal advisory opinions and major policy decisions. The OGE Deputy Director is also attached to this office and assists the Director in carrying out OGE's responsibilities, including serving as Acting Director in the absence of the Director.

(c) The Office of the General Counsel. The responsibilities of the OGE Office of the General Counsel include: Developing regulations and approving executive agency implementation under conflict of interest laws, administrative standards of conduct, post-Government employment restrictions, and public and confidential financial disclosure reporting; initiating executive branch administrative ethics corrective actions; reviewing public financial disclosure statements of advice-and-consent Presidential executive branch nominees, to identify and resolve conflicts; advising the OGE Director whether to approve and reviewing the ongoing administration of executive branch Ethics in Government Act qualified trusts; issuing certificates of divestiture; providing informal ethics advisory opinions/advice; participating in training and public forums on ethics; monitoring and providing technical assistance on legislative Government ethics initiatives; making Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act determinations for OGE; facilitating executive agency referrals of criminal conflict of interest violations to the Department of Justice; and advising on executive agency exemptions and designations under 18 U.S.C. 207 and 208.

(d) The Office of Monitoring and Compliance. The responsibilities of the OGE Office of Monitoring and Compliance include: auditing the ethics programs in executive branch departments and agencies, regional offices and military bases to insure compliance with ethics regulations and requirements; monitoring compliance with ethics agreements made by Presidential executive branch appointees requiring Senate advice and consent, and reviewing their annual and termination SF 278 financial disclosure reports, as well as assisting in the review of their nominee reports; reviewing executive agency designations pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 207; participating in training and public forums on ethics; and providing advice, review and liaison to the executive agencies on all ethics administrative matters pursuant to a desk officer system which the office operates.

(e) The Office of Education. The responsibilities of the OGE Office of Education include: providing information on and promoting understanding of ethical standards through training courses for executive agency ethics practitioners and development of instructional materials, such as the Government Ethics Newsgram, handbooks and videotapes; carrying out the mandate of Executive Order 12674 to develop and disseminate an ethics reference manual for executive branch employees; coordinating on required annual executive agency ethics training plans and annual agency ethics program reports, including a yearly ethics survey; and providing liaison with the public and outside groups such as non-profit and educational organizations, as well as officials of state, local and foreign governments to promote understanding of Government ethics.

(f) The Office of Administration. The Office of Administration is responsible for providing and coordinating essential administrative support services to all OGE operating programs and divisions. These intra-agency functions include: Personnel; payroll; fiscal resource management; facilities management; procurement, records and property management; publishing and distribution; printing; management information systems support; library; personnel security; and funding mandatory overhead expenses necessary for the operation of OGE.