New Ethics Gig for Ex-OFPP Chief

By Robert Brodsky

The defense industry's lead ethics organization has a new leader - and she may be quite familiar to those in the procurement industry.

Angela Styles, a former administrator of federal procurement policy at the Office of Management and Budget during the Bush administration, was named Thursday as the new coordinator and executive director of the Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct, also known as DII. Styles replaces Richard Bednar, a former Army JAG brigadier general, who ran the non-profit association for the past decade.

"For nearly 25 years, DII has been helping our nation's leading defense and security firms set up and run sophisticated ethics and compliance programs that safeguard taxpayer dollars and exceed the demanding requirements of federal contract law and regulations," said Styles, who will retain her role as a partner in the Washington law firm of Crowell & Moring. "I am honored to join this vital organization and hope to build on its impressive track record."

Changes to contractor ethics rules should keep Styles busy in the months ahead. Contractors are complying with regulations outlining mandatory disclosure of potential criminal violations and changes to personal and organizational conflicts of interest rules and revolving-door policies.

Styles has commissioned a review of the most significant ethics and compliance issues affecting defense and security firms and plans to develop new training programs.

"We all have a duty to federal taxpayers to act honestly and with integrity," Styles said. "Our companies deliver goods and services to U.S. troops serving in harm's way, so we need to get this right."