ABSTRACT
Among the ethically pertinen t news stories that unfolded as thi s volume look shape, two clearly il lustrate how public ethics connects to government or system legitimacy:
• Revelations about the 20 10 Government Services Admini stration (GSA) scandal wherein the agency spent $823,000 for supposedly "i n-serv ice training" that amounted to ajunkcl including "a hot tub, a mind reader, a down, and sushi-all under the adm inistration of the acting commi ssioner o f t he agency 's Pacific Rim region" (Marinucci 2012)
• Media coverage of the "Stuxnct" controversy that surfaced from leaked information about the U.S. defense establishment's ongoing cybcrwar project-backed by the Obama White House-to attack Iran's nuclear facilities with a computer worm
Each compromises legi timacy in a di fferent way. Clearly. the GSA fiasco eats away at publi c confidence in public agencies . In that regard, it was not surpri sing that t he media most crit ical of government (e.g., the Washingtoll Times) covered the scandal more often and in greater lengths than others (e.g ., the Washingtoll Post). But it can be said that citizens of almost a ll political persuasions found this behavior-presumably the poster-childofCarolcJurkicwicz's ethical dysfunction (Chapter 2)-a fundamen tal breach of public trust.
