October 26, 2018
This week, OGE gathered with a group of senior ethics officials from throughout the executive branch to mark this anniversary and the beginning of the modern government ethics program.
In 40 years OGE has made great strides in ethics uniformity and transparency. The ethics program has advanced from a mail and paper system of public financial disclosure to a modern digital system of document delivery and review. OGE has introduced an executive branch-wide set of ethics rules and policies which, over time, continues to evolve as the world-leading system to promote employee standards of conduct and to protect government integrity. The executive branch ethics program has expanded into a community of some 5,000 talented and steadfast ethics professionals across 136 agencies who work tirelessly every day to build and protect the public’s trust.
OGE and its ever-talented staff, in concert with skilled ethics community professionals, have done much to improve integrity in the executive branch – but there is much more to do. Over the next 40 years OGE and the ethics community will need to adapt even more rapidly as technology and citizens’ expectations for integrity in government accelerate. OGE will need to modernize rules, increase engagement, and work even more diligently to strengthen the trust between citizens and their government. There will be challenges, but OGE and the nation are fortunate to have the foundation of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 upon which to build the future of ethics in government.