Ethics in the Civil Air Patrol

Introduction

This lesson provides a basic overview of core values, which serve as a
foundation for personal and professional conduct. After discussing the
CAP core values, we will study six basic ethical principles that help
determine when personal use of CAP resources is authorized.

**CAP Core Values: Integrity**, **Volunteer Service, Excellence, and
Respect.**

During the February 1999 Winter National Board, our governing body
adopted a set of four basic "Core Values." These core values serve as
the ethical foundation for our personal and professional conduct. The
core values adopted were *Integrity, Volunteer Service, Excellence, and
Respect*. CAP's core values mirror the Air Force's core values of
*Integrity, Excellence In All We Do, and Service Before Self.*

Values are those principles, beliefs, standards and constructs that you
consider being very important. For example: honesty, integrity,
friendship, humility, loyalty, courage, and honor are a few values of
American society. Values define who we are as individuals and as
societies. Values are taught to us at an early age by parents, family
members, schools, and religious institutions. They are taught to us as
we go through life as well.

Let us look at each of these values. *Integrity*: it is more than
honesty. Integrity also has the attributes of courage, responsibility,
accountability, justice, openness, self-respect, and humility.
*Volunteer Service:* it is the willingness and ability to give of
oneself. It also goes beyond giving of time; it extends to the
willingness to obey the rules and regulations of CAP and the United
States Air Force. *Excellence:* means to continuously and persistently
improve our humanitarian service to America. Our last core value is
*Respect*. The CAP has a diverse membership and we will treat each other
with fairness, dignity, and compassion. By adopting the core values of
respect, integrity, volunteer service, and excellence, we are able to
work as an effective team.

Values play an immense role in defining the rules and standards of
conduct. The following paragraph is from the *Code of Ethics for Federal
Government Service:*

Ethics are standards by which one should act base on values. Values are
core beliefs such as duty, honor, and integrity that motivate attitudes
and actions. Not all values are ethical values (integrity is; happiness
is not). Ethical values relate to what is right and wrong and thus take
precedence over nonethical values when making ethical decisions. DoD
employees should carefully consider ethical values when making decisions
as part of official duties.[^1]

Values are an essential ingredient of an ethics system. The Civil Air
Patrol has begun a concerted effort to educate its members on its core
values. Core values make the Civil Air Patrol what it is; without them
we will not succeed. They are the values that instill confidence, earn
respect, and create followers. These values are what we depend upon in
difficult situations. In essence, they are the pillar of our
professionalism and provide the foundation of the CAP program.

# CAP ethical principles.

The four CAP values build on six basic principles and concepts that
apply to ethical conduct. The principles are: loyalty of members, honest
effort in performing duties, impartiality, protection of federal
property, disclosure of Waste, Fraud and Abuse, and satisfaction of
financial obligations. CAP members should apply these concepts to their
conduct and behavior. By applying these ethical concepts to their
conduct and behavior, CAP members will avoid the appearance of violation
of the laws governing ethics. If you have any questions about CAP ethics
contact your unit ethics official.

One of the ethical issues will discuss in further detail is the use of
CAP resources -- equipment, communications, vehicles, and your CAP
position.

The general rule for the use of resources is found in 5 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) 2635.101(b)(9). It states that "employees shall
protect and conserve Federal property and shall not use it for other
than authorized purposes." If you are not sure if a particular use is
authorized, seek guidance from your supervisor or call the Ethics
Officer.

# So what is authorized?

Most of us have known for a long time that we may use CAP resources only
for authorized purposes. However, most of us have assumed that the only
authorized purposes were for those duties directly related to the
accomplishment of our CAP mission. Certain personal uses may also be
authorized. However, these uses are very limited, and we must use
caution when approving the use of CAP resources.

Let us look more closely at when personal use may be authorized. A CAP
supervisor may authorize personal use of CAP resources if it is
supportive of the mission. Listed below are some simple tests.

-   The use does not adversely affect the performance of official CAP
    unit mission.

-   The use is of reasonable duration and frequency.

-   The use serves a legitimate public interest (such as reducing
    disruptions to the workplace, enhancing professional skills, and
    supporting CAP community relations).

-   The use does not reflect adversely on DoD or CAP (such as commercial
    activities, unofficial advertising, or violating a CAP regulation).

-   The use creates no significant additional cost to CAP or DoD.

When deciding if the personal use of CAP resources is authorized or not,
a balance test is usually involved. The value to the CAP is weighed
against the cost to CAP. Additional factors, such as susceptibility of
abuse, visibility, and sleaziness are also considered. The bottom line,
however, is that in order for any use to be authorized; it must be for
the benefit of the CAP.

Conclusion

The Civil Air Patrol core values are *Integrity, Volunteer Service,
Excellence, and Respect*. Core values are the foundation for six basic
ethical principles. These principles are: loyalty of members, honest
effort in performing duties, impartiality, protection of federal
property, disclosure of Waste, Fraud and Abuse, and the satisfaction of
financial obligations. We finished this lesson with a discussion on how
to determine when personal use of CAP resources is authorized.

[^1]: *Code of Ethics for Government Service,* On-line Internet
    available from
    <http://www.dtic.mil/defenselink/dodgc/defense_ethicsindex.htm>, sec
    3.