ETHICS BASICS
This DoD regulation, 5500.7-R, is the primary guide service members rely on to define rules of acceptable professional conduct.
What is the Joint Ethics Regulation (JER)?
This chapter of the JER, along with 5 CFR 2635, defines conflict of interest for military members.
What is Chapter 5, Conflicts of Interest?
This act requires DoW personnel to protect personally identifiable information, and states that combining medical info with other PII is not permissible
What is the Privacy Act?
This act gives the public the right to request records from any federal agency, subject to nine exemptions.
What is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)?
This term refers to a false statement, presented as fact, that injures a third party’s reputation.
What is defamation?
This federal code, Title 5, is often referenced in the JER, though not all of its sections apply to service members.
What is the Code of Federal Regulations (5 CFR)?
This is the maximum market value a single gift may have to qualify under the small-gifts exception.
What is $20?
This DoD instruction, number 1300.18, provides guidelines on privacy rights for personnel who are ill, injured, missing, or deceased.
What is DoDI 1300.18 (Personnel Casualty Matters)?
Unlike civilian creators, works produced by military communicators are automatically placed in this legal status rather than being eligible for copyright.
What is public domain?
This is the term for written defamation, as opposed to spoken defamation.
What is libel?
This historic role, claimed by American journalists, casts the press as a watchdog on the three branches of government.
What is the “4th Estate”?
This is the annual calendar-year cap on the total value of multiple small gifts ($20 or less each) from the same source
What is $50?
This is the minimum number of hours that must pass after next-of-kin notification before personal information on an injured or deceased member may be published.
What is 24 hours?
This term describes use of copyrighted material that doesn’t adversely affect the original work or its creator, often depending on how much of the work was used.
What is fair use?
This section of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires equitable digital access for people with disabilities, per WCAG 2.0 guidelines.
What is Section 508?
Unlike civilian media, for whom OPSEC and privacy are largely ethical choices, DoW members can face this military justice system for violating release-of-information policy.
What is the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice)?
This DoD instruction, 1344.10, governs how service members may participate in this category of activity to avoid conflicts of interest.
What is Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces?
When a member goes missing under potentially hostile circumstances, this is the number of hours that must pass after next-of-kin notification before personal information may be released.
What is 72 hours?
This provides guidance on how military communicators should apply generative AI in their work.
What is DoD Instruction 5400.19, Public Affairs Use of Artificial Intelligence?
This is the minimum standard of fault a plaintiff must show to win a defamation case, even if the statement wasn’t made maliciously.
What is negligence?
This is the standard used to judge whether an action creates a conflict of interest — asking whether someone could question your motives without seeming extreme or paranoid.
What is the “reasonable person” standard?
Before accepting a second job, this type of document is often required to be submitted, reviewed, and approved — typically by the commanding officer.
What is a waiver?
This category of information — covering things like account numbers, license plate numbers, and fingerprints — must be safeguarded alongside PII under DoW policy.
What is Protected Health Information (PHI)?
This term refers to the complete digital record of a product, including previous versions and metadata, used to promote transparency and credibility.
What is (digital) provenance?
Saying a celebrity’s music “isn’t that good” is protected as this, but accusing them of stealing it crosses into an accusation presented as fact.
What is an opinion?