Eshoo Passes Legislation to Curb Corporate 'Moonlighting' in the Intelligence Community

Washington, D.C. - Earlier this month, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) learned that employees in the intelligence community started a company to sell "deception detection" services to hedge funds, and ran this company while they were federal employees. A senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Eshoo immediately began a review of current conflict of interest rules in the intelligence community.

"I discovered, to my great surprise, that this activity had been approved by their agencies," Rep. Eshoo said. "Clearly, we need to tighten up that process."

Today the House of Representatives adopted an amendment to H.R. 2701, FY 2010 Intelligence Authorization, sponsored by Rep. Eshoo, to strengthen conflict of interest rules for employees of intelligence agencies who engage in outside employment.

"Government employees, and especially those in the intelligence community, should adhere to the highest ethical standards," Rep. Eshoo said. "The American people must have confidence that government employees are working in the best interests of the nation, not in their personal self-interest."

The amendment requires the Director of National Intelligence to establish an intelligence community-wide conflict of interest regulation working in conjunction with the Office of Government Ethics, to establish a community-wide process for checking outside employment for conflicts of interest, and to submit an annual report to the intelligence committees on all outside employment activities that were approved in the previous year. The amendment also prohibits employees from owning companies that sell skills that are related to their government service.

The amendment passed by a voice vote. It was cosponsored by Representatives John Tierney (D-MA), Dan Boren (D-OK), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Mike Rogers (R-MI), and Sue Myrick (R-NC).

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