The Departmental Ethics Office sets long and short range goals and objectives, establishes priorities, and develops guidance for the bureaus and offices to ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. It is responsible for the evaluation of the current status of the program, and recommends techniques and methods for streamlining the delivery of the ethics program. The Departmental Ethics Office identifies program areas in need of special emphasis and various problem areas requiring special attention.

Counseling is a major emphasis within the program. The Departmental Ethics Office provides guidance to the bureaus and offices on the application of the government-wide standards of conduct. It prepares written responses to current and former employees, attorneys, Department contractors and other members of the general public who inquire about the Department's ethics and conduct rules or who are in need of a Department ethics opinion regarding a particular situation. Provides "Help-Line" assistance to bureau and office ethics personnel, senior officials, employees, and members of the public on conflicts of interest and standards of conduct questions.

The Departmental Ethics Office provides an interface with members of the media, special interest groups, and/or the general public. It represents the Department's interests in meetings with other Federal agencies and at national/international conferences. The Departmental Ethics Office advocates the interests and concerns of the DOI's ethics program in a liaison role with all the Bureaus and Offices.

The Departmental Ethics Office establishes goals for the Departmentwide ethics education program and develops long range plans and policies for meeting those goals and for implementing recent statutory and regulatory requirements. It is responsible for preparation and distribution of bulletins, notices, and memoranda informing bureaus and offices of recent changes to the standards of conduct.

Further, it is responsible for the development and delivery of training tools that may be used Department-wide, such as computer based training modules and satellite broadcasts. These training tools are shared with other agencies across the Federal government.

The Departmental Ethics Office is responsible for the implementation of the Executive branch's financial disclosure regulations as they apply to Interior employees. At present, the Departmental Ethics Office is directly responsible for the collection, review, and certification of PUBLIC financial disclosure reports filed by approximately 400 senior-level managers. It is also responsible for ensuring the efficient operation of the financial disclosure programs at the bureau level. Approximately 10,000 CONFIDENTIAL financial disclosure reports are filed by employees Department-wide. The Departmental Ethics Office also provides technical assistance and guidance to bureau ethics counselors who are responsible for reviewing financial disclosure reports and resolving conflict of interest issues that are disclosed by their review. The Departmental Ethics Office also works closely with the White House Counsel's Office and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in processing the financial disclosure reports filed by Presidential Nominees who require confirmation by the Senate.

The Departmental Ethics Office maintains frequent contact and provides liaison between the Department and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, other interested Departments and agencies, and other organizations whose members are concerned with furthering ethical awareness among executive branch employees. It also provides Office of Inspector General investigators and Department of Justice attorneys with technical assistance on cases involving conflicts of interest or standards of conduct.