The Defense Industry Initiative: From Business Conduct Program Innovator to Industry Standard?

Abstract

Thus opens the document entitled “Defense Industry Initiatives on Business Ethics and Conduct,” dated June 9, 1986; it is the beginning of what has come to be widely known as the Defense Industry Initiative (DII). A narrow and not completely incorrect reading of this paragraph might lead one to conclude that the sole purpose of the initiative was to address procurement fraud and provide parameters around mitigating and eliminating such fraud. A broader interpretation that reflects the actual eventual evolution of the DII, however, would suggest that even if the original intent of the drafters of this initiative may have been to address only defense industry procurement issues, the DII in many ways represented the beginnings of a revolution in how corporations, especially in the United States but increasingly elsewhere, create and implement internal business conduct and ethics programs.

“The defense industry companies who sign this document have, or commit to adopt and implement, a set of principles of business ethics and conduct that acknowledge and address their corporate responsibilities under federal procurement laws and to the public. Further they accept the responsibility to create an environment in which compliance with federal procurement laws and free, open and timely reporting of violations become the felt responsibility of every employee in the defense industry.”²

Andrea Bonime-Blanc has served as general counsel, chief ethics and compliance officer, corporate secretary, and risk officer for several global organizations for the past fifteen years. She is chairwoman of the board of directors of the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association and the author of numerous books and articles on business ethics, compliance, risk management, governance, constitutional change, and democratization, and she speaks and teaches frequently. She holds a joint JD and PhD from Columbia University and grew up in Europe.