Ethics - Patricia Dunn

After careful consideration of the question “Should Patricia Dunn has been forced to resign? My answer is no and my underlying principle is that Ms. Dunn was following orders presented to her by her superiors from HP. Was it ethically wrong? Absolutely in all ways! I’m trying to maintain a bias opinion, as retired military and my current occupation as a DOD civilian; we always follow orders from our superiors and we have security or big brother always checking on us to prevent espionage of any DOD secrets.

Nevertheless, the first thought that crossed my mind after I read the Newsweek article was the “Watergate Scandal”. This took place back in June 1972 where a foiled break-in attempt at the Watergate hotel was part of a scandal fabricated by Nixon supporters to tarnish the reputation of Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party. Democratic candidates were harassed, subject to negative campaign ads, and on two separate occasions the National Democratic Headquarters were broken into (washingtonpost.com). As soon as the attempted break-in at Watergate Hotel scandal became known, President Richard Nixon ordered the entire affair covered up, but it also made it clear that the President Nixon was involved in serious manipulation and abuses of power for years.

The scandal also showed millions of dollars coming from Nixon supporters were used to pay for the cover-up in an attempt to hide the truth from Congress and the American people. In mid-1974, the House of Representatives approved the articles of impeachment against President Nixon. They were: Article I: Obstruction of justice; Article II: Abuse of power; and Article III: Defiance of committee subpoena. On August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon announced to the American people that he no longer had a political base strong enough to support his remaining time in office and resigned the presidency. My point on the Watergate scandal is that all that were indicted and went to prison followed orders by the President of...