Common Sense 101

WASHINGTON - White House workers, from presidential advisers to low-ranking aides, began attending mandatory lectures on ethical behavior and the handling of classified documents Tuesday after the recent indictment of a high-level official in the CIA leak case.

More than 3,000 employees from agencies and offices under the Executive Office of the President are required to attend the hour-long briefings over the next two weeks. The sessions this week are reserved for staff with security clearances.

Andy Card, the president's chief of staff, and Harriet Miers, the White House counsel, attended the first lecture, given by Richard Painter, the White House attorney who handles ethics issues. Otherwise, people are to attend by alphabetical order.

I find that highly amusing... The VP's chief of staff gets indicted for 5 felonies, and everyone else now must learn the basics of ethics? What a joke..

And just for the record.. I have to take the same class on handling confidential information every year as a condition of my employment. It's the same exact thing every year. And, while there is no section in the material that specifially says "Do not reveal the identities of covert CIA operatives to the news media or anyone else not authorized", I know not to do that anyway. And I'm just a code monkey.