General counsel honors AFMC Ethics Program Office

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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) --  Members of the Air Force Materiel Command's Ethics Program Office received the Air Force General Counsel's Excellence in Ethics Program Award for 2007 during a presentation ceremony June 11 at the General Counsel's Acquisition Conference in Dayton, Ohio.

Mary L. Walker, the Air Force general counsel, presented the award to Brig. Gen. David G. Ehrhart, the AFMC staff judge advocate, and John Thrasher, the AFMC Law Office director. 

The AFMC Ethics Program Office became the first-ever recipient for what is planned to become an annual Air Force-wide award.

The Air Force general counsel chose AFMC's Ethics Program Office for the award, which recognizes a group or organization's (including all base-level through headquarters organizations) exceptional contributions to the promotion of the Air Force culture of ethics based on the Air Force core values.

The AFMC Ethics Program Office is supported by the AFMC Judge Advocate and the AFMC Law Office. The Ethics Program Office staff was cited for its ethics development and training programs throughout the command.

One of these programs is an ethics Web site that features statutes, regulations and educational materials covering items related to ethics rules applicable to Air Force members. The site includes a comprehensive list of sources and guidance as well as a search capability. One Air Force attorney praised the site for its unsurpassed value of information.

Ms. Walker also praised the AFMC Ethics Program for providing the guidance and tools to help "strengthen, support and advance a culture of ethics in the Air Force."

The AFMC Ethics Program staff does this is by serving as the primary ethics adviser to the AFMC commander, vice commander and executive director. The program averages 67 written opinions annually for these offices. The program also routinely sends out updates to ethics attorneys and counselors throughout the Air Force.

Finally, the Ethics Program Office also provides acquisition-related ethics support and post-government employment advice to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base members. This includes counseling hundreds of people on the separation and retirement statutes and regulations.

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