United States Office of Government Ethics - Wikipedia United States Office of Government Ethics The United States Office of Government Ethics ( OGE ) is an independent agency within the executive branch of the U.S. Federal Government which is responsible for directing executive branch policies relating to the prevention of conflict of interest on the part of Federal executive branch officers and employees. Its primary duties include : Establishing the standards of conduct for the executive branch ; Issuing rules and regulations interpreting the criminal conflict of interest restrictions ; Establishing the framework for the public and confidential financial disclosure systems for executive branch employees ; Developing training and education programs for use by executive branch ethics officials and employees ; Ensuring that individual agency ethics programs are functioning properly by setting the requirements for them, supporting them, and reviewing them. The Director of OGE is appointed by the President after confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The Director of OGE serves a five - year term, thereby overlapping presidential terms, and is subject to no term limit. The rest of the OGE employees are career civil servants. Created by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, OGE separated from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in 1989 pursuant to reform legislation. The acting Director of OGE is currently David J. Apol, formerly the general counsel of the OGE. He replaced Walter Shaub, who was appointed by President Obama in 2013, and resigned on July 19, 2017.. Trump conflicts of interest A series of tweets on 30 November 2016 from the office 's official Twitter account praised President - elect Donald Trump for planning to divest his business holdings in order to resolve potential conflicts of interest, following an announcement where Trump reaffirmed his intent to take himself out of business operations, despite him having made no firm commitment to a divestment like selling his businesses or a blind trust. A number of observers speculated that the office 's account might have been hacked, a suggestion it later denied. The New York Times suggested that the apparent misunderstanding behind the postings were deliberately intended to reveal the independent agency had advised Trump 's legal counsel that a divestment was the only adequate remedy for resolving any conflict, and, by extension, pressure Trump into doing so. A Freedom of Information Act request by news organization The Daily Dot revealed that OGE Director Walter M. Shaub personally ordered officials within the agency to post the 9 tweets. Under the Trump Administration, the Office reversed its own internal policy prohibiting anonymous donations from lobbyists to White House staffers who have legal defense funds. OGE certification of Ethics agreement compliance form On May 11th, 2017, the Office of Government Ethics requested the Trump administration and its associates submit a form regarding divestment of assets and possible conflicts of interest. See also Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations References Jump up ^ Pan, Jock ( 2010 ). The United States Outer executive Departments and Independent Federal Agencies. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 346 -- 7. ISBN 9781450086752. Retrieved 1 December 2016. Jump up ^ Lipton, Eric ( July 26, 2017 ). `` New Ethics Chief Has Fought to Roll Back Restrictions ''. New York Times. Retrieved 28 July 2017. Jump up ^ Overby, P., Geewax, M. Ethics Office Director Walter Shaub Resigns, Saying Rules Need To Be Tougher. July 6, 2017 1 : 01 PM ET Jump up ^ Selyukh, Alina ( 30 November 2016 ). `` Trump 's Conflict of Interest Gets Twitter Response From Government Watchdog : The Two - Way : NPR ''. NPR. Retrieved 1 December 2016. Jump up ^ Shear, Michael D. ; Lipton, Eric ( November 30, 2016 ). `` Ethics Office Praises Donald Trump for a Move He Has n't Committed To ''. New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Government Ethics director ordered controversial tweets praising Trump, email reveals ''. The Daily Dot. 2016 - 12 - 30. Retrieved 2016 - 12 - 30. Jump up ^ Darren Samuelsohn ( September 13, 2017 ). `` Trump ethics watchdog moves to allow anonymous gifts to legal defense funds ''. Politico.com. Retrieved September 21, 2017. Jump up ^ `` Federal Ethics Office Wants To Know If Trump Appointees Are Keeping Their Promises : NPR ''. NPR. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States Office of Government Ethics. Official website This United States government -- related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Office_of_Government_Ethics&oldid=801800226 '' Categories : Ethics organizations Independent agencies of the United States government United States government stubs Hidden categories : Year of establishment missing All stub articles Talk About Wikipedia Norsk Tiếng Việt Edit links This page was last edited on 21 September 2017, at 23 : 08. About Wikipedia

Question: who appoints the director of the office of government ethics
Answer: the President