The CIA appears to have reported dozens of employees to the Department of Justice (DOJ) over potential conflicts of interest during the Biden administration, records reviewed by the Daily Caller show.
Between January of 2021 and May of 2023, the CIA filled out 32 form 202 conflict of interest referral notifications to the Biden administration’s Office of Government Ethics (OGE), according to records obtained by the Daily Caller. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Heritage Foundation Sues CIA For Refusing To Hand Over Covid Records)
FORM 202 SUBMISSIONS:
Agencies are supposed to submit form 202s to the OGE to report alleged ethics violations referred to the DOJ, the OGE website states.
The OGE records were provided to the Daily Caller by the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. Heritage received information about the form 202 submissions through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) public records request.
OGE informed the Heritage Oversight Project that multiple forms may be submitted for a single referral meaning the total number of form 202s may not be the same as the total number of referrals to the DOJ.
OGE FOIA RESPONSE:
“In response to your request, we are enclosing one page of responsive records. Note that for a variety of reasons, there may be multiple forms submitted in relation to a single referral. The numbers listed are the numbers of forms received by OGE during that time frame, not necessarily the number of referrals,” OGE said.
It’s unclear if the DOJ took any action on the alleged conflicts of interest reported by the CIA. The OGE and DOJ declined to comment. The CIA did not offer any details about the reported conflicts of interest within the agency.
The referrals cover possible violations under sections 203, 205, 207, 208 and 209 of title 18 of the U.S. Code. Each of these sections of chapter 11 of of title 18 falls under bribery, graft and conflict of interest.
The North Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on November 18, 2022. – Naomi Biden, 28, granddaughter of US President Joe Biden, will marry Peter Neal, 25, on the South Lawn on November 19, 2022. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
In fiscal year 2023, OGE made hundreds of ethics recommendations to federal agencies to improve ethics programs to ensure they meet statutory requirements, an OGE report from the fourth quarter of FY 2023 shows. OGE’s reports on its recommendations and agency specific ethics reports are publicly available.
OGE publicized its 2022 ethics inspection of the CIA in January and the number of CIA employees required to file financial disclosures is classified, therefore it is not included in the inspection. The section of the ethics inspection with compliance requirements does not indicate whether the CIA’s internal ethics trainings addressed conflicts of interest.
The CIA did not respond to multiple requests for comment.