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III. Review of Standards of Conduct and Establishment of a Professional Standards Policy

In May 2012, the Secret Service established the PRWG co-chaired by former OPM Director John Berry and FLETC Director Connie Patrick who worked closely with a panel that consisted of more than 70 subject matter experts from OMB, FLETC, the FBI, members of the U.S. military, and the Secret Service. The PRWG was tasked with three major responsibilities: (1) review the Secret Service's internal controls on professional conduct; (2) benchmark the Secret Service against other federal agency's best practices; and (3) identify any areas where the Secret Service excelled and where the agency needed to improve.

Following an 8-month review, the PRWG found that, although a number of the Secret Service's procedures were identified as best practices, and many more were found to be consistent with peer organizations, there were areas where enhancements could be implemented to support the workforce further. The PRWG issued 17 recommendations with the goal of reinforcing professionalism within the workforce. The Secret Service accepted all of the recommendations, many of which were implemented by the end of 2013, and, in accordance with a strategic action plan, all 17 were fully adopted by the end of 2014.

As the PRWG was winding up its actions, the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) began an audit and issued a report aimed at assessing the Secret Service's "Efforts to Identify, Mitigate, and Address Instances of Misconduct and Inappropriate Behavior."^[1] In its report issued December 19, 2013, the DHS OIG "did not find evidence that misconduct is widespread in [the Secret Service]."^[2] However, the report contained a number of recommendations for the agency. Many of these recommendations concerned matters that overlapped with the recommendations of the PRWG; some of which had already been fully implemented by the Secret Service. Nonetheless, by mid-April 2014, all recommendations issued by the DHS OIG had been completed and the recommended procedural changes fully established.

Several of the recommendations made by the PRWG and the OIG focused on establishing a robust disciplinary process grounded in transparency, consistency, and fairness. To meet these objectives, enhanced training and educational materials emphasizing the expectation of ethical behavior and conduct were made available to all employees. The Secret Service introduced updated training on ethics and standards of