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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051108.html
Q There were the briefings that began, the ethics briefings that began today. Can you describe in some fashion what the presentation is that White House staffers are hearing for an hour, and what you're trying to accomplish?
MR. McCLELLAN: Sure. First let me step back and just talk about these so everybody in the room is familiar with what we are doing. The President takes the issue of the handling of classified information very seriously. And about a week ago, or just over a week ago, at Camp David, he visited with his Chief of Staff, Andy Card, and his Counsel, Harriet Miers, about some steps that we should take here at the White House. And the President directed that action be taken to provide refresher briefings for all White House staff -- that includes staff within the White House, as well as staff within the Executive Office of the President; that would include agencies that operate within the White House, such as the Office of Management and Budget and the Counsel on Environmental Quality and a number of others.
The White House staff knows very well what is expected of them. They're expected to focus on the people's business and they're expected to adhere to the highest ethical standards. The President has made that clear for quite some time. And he directed Andy Card and Harriet Miers to do these refresher briefings for all White House staff.
And they focus on general ethics rules, including rules governing the handling of classified information. So this week there will be eight hour-long sessions that will be conducted for all White House staff that has security clearances of any level, whether that -- well, all staff that has any sort of security clearance.
And so there will be -- in these briefings, which started this morning, they're organized in an alphabetical way -- there will be a general overview of ethics issues, such as the standards of ethical conduct that are expected. There will be a discussion about classified information and the proper handling of classified national security information, how that material is classified, by whom, for how long, who has access to it, how the material is declassified, the badges that people wear to show their security clearances and so forth. The briefings discuss the security precautions that are in place for handling classified information such as the use of safes, or the use of specific locations to view classified information like the Situation Room here at the White House. It will talk about the proper disposal of classified information. It will talk about the handling of classified information when you're transporting that classified information. And the briefings will include the rules and laws relating to classified information and what's expected of people. So that's kind of a general overview of these briefings.
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