The purpose of this memorandum is to remind all employees about long-standing Justice Department policy regarding the propriety of engaging in certain political activities and to set forth additional guidance on use of the Department's Internet to access political sites. In addition, the Attorney General will be issuing more specific guidance for non-career employees to update the current guidance contained in her memorandum of October 11, 1998.

In October 1994 the Attorney General issued the attached memorandum outlining the relevant rules imposed on Department of Justice employees regarding their political activities. Most of the rules set forth in the memorandum are imposed by statute and apply generally to all employees, whether you are career or non-career. All of the restrictions set down in the October 1994 memorandum are still in effect, and you should familiarize yourself with those rules that apply to you.

Over the past several years employee use of the Internet has increased dramatically. As you know, the Department's policy allows personal use of most office equipment, including the Internet, where there is negligible cost to the government and no interference with official business. However, partisan political activity in the workplace is prohibited by the Hatch Act, 5 USC 7325, and therefore the Department's policy must be read in conjunction with the statute. Employees may access partisan political websites on the Internet using a government computer, since merely accessing a partisan site does not violate the Hatch Act. However, additional activities in the workplace directed toward the success or failure of a political party, a candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group, would violate the Hatch Act and also would violate the Department's rules. For example, inviting individuals to attend a political event, recruiting campaign volunteers or dispersing campaign literature over the Internet is prohibited.

Employees should keep in mind that all Internet communications identify the user and the user's domain address (“usdoj.gov”) to all sites accessed, and when an employee accesses the Internet using certain browsers, a technique known as “cookies” facilitates the gathering and distribution of information. This may lead to automatic collection of data without the user's knowledge, transmission of the data to parties unknown, and the association of information about a DOJ user's Internet activity with DOJ.

Finally, the policy on personal use is subject to the overriding expectation that an employee will give the government an honest day's work, and that Departmental resources should not be used for activities that are offensive to co-workers. Employees should be sensitive to the fact that other employees may not share their views on political parties and candidates.

Please contact your component's ethics official if you have any questions concerning the application of the policies on political activities.

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