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The Federal government is different from the private sector. As Henry Clay said: Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people. Clearly, agency personnel should not benefit from their government actions, but act as trustees to benefit all taxpayers. It is this principle that underlies the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees in the Executive Branch (5 C.F.R. Part 2635), as well as all the other conflict of interest laws and rules. These regulations state that Federal personnel should not use their public office for private gain. Further, Federal personnel should not undermine the peoples trust and integrity in government. Under the Standards, one way the Office of Government Ethics and the Department of Defense ensure public trust is to prohibit receipt of gifts by Federal personnel from entities doing business with the Government. The Standards provide a number of exclusions and exceptions from the general prohibition on personnel accepting gifts offered because of their official position or by a prohibited source. Additionally, Congress has provided agencies with specific statutory authority to accept some gifts on behalf of the United States. One such law permits certain gifts of travel to be accepted by Federal agencies (as opposed to Federal personnel directly) to facilitate the agencys mission. This government-wide gift acceptance authority enables agencies to fulfill their missions without burdening the taxpayers, and without compromising the integrity of the Government.