About the Department

• Strategic Plan
• Budget and Finance
• Department Structure
  • Organization Chart
  • Leadership
• Laws and Regulations
• History
• Careers
• Compliance Issues

Officer for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Daniel W. Sutherland

On April 16, 2003, President Bush appointed Daniel W. Sutherland to be the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This unique position calls for Mr. Sutherland to provide legal and policy advice to the Secretary and the senior leadership of the Department on a full range of issues at the intersection of homeland security and civil rights and civil liberties. Mr. Sutherland and his office provide advice on issues such as: the use of race or ethnicity in law enforcement and intelligence activities; building strategic partnerships between the homeland security effort and American Arab and Muslim communities; and, the need to integrate people with disabilities into emergency planning and preparedness. Mr. Sutherland’s 2005 speech on the need for the government to engage with Muslim-Americans in the war on terror has been printed in the publication Vital Speeches of the Day. Mr. Sutherland has testified before Congress on issues such as: the use of satellite technology to benefit homeland security projects; enhancing emergency preparedness for senior citizens and people with disabilities; and, building a respect for civil rights and civil liberties into fusion centers across the country.

Mr. Sutherland has been a civil rights attorney throughout his legal career, serving fourteen years with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and nearly two years with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. Mr. Sutherland also served as the first Executive Director of the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission. He has co-authored Religion in the Workplace, a book published in 1998 by the American Bar Association, and he has served at the White House, with the Domestic Policy Council, and at the Bush-Cheney Transition headquarters.

Mr. Sutherland has handled a number of important civil rights lawsuits. His litigation includes cases alleging discrimination by a large urban police department in its dealings with people who are deaf; allegations that a licensing authority would not adequately accommodate test-takers who are blind; and, allegations of discrimination against refugees from Vietnam and the former Soviet Union. Additionally, Mr. Sutherland has handled a number of cases dealing with the intersection of civil rights laws and athletics, including handling the case of the first baseball player who defected from the Cuban national baseball team, a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association on behalf of student-athletes with dyslexia, and the case of Casey Martin, the professional golfer who needed the reasonable accommodation of a golf cart and who won his case on a 7-2 decision by the Supreme Court.

Mr. Sutherland is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and the University of Louisville.

This page was last reviewed/modified on October 12, 2007.