Engagement Works

From the beginning, our Department has invested a great deal in community outreach, particularly with regard to racial, religious and ethnic minority communities. We are more effective when we explain our policies to people, when we listen to their feedback, and when we ask community groups to roll up their sleeves to work with us on projects to secure our country.

I am pleased to announce that we have taken another step forward in reaching out to the American public by creating a webpage on community outreach. This page includes recent news of interest; links on immigration information, filing complaints on travel or civil liberties concerns, and training resources that build cultural competency; and, video of Secretary Chertoff speaking about the importance of community outreach and the proactive role that American Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities can play in our national security.

After almost six years of working with racial, religious and ethnic minority communities around the country, we can say with certainty that outreach pays concrete dividends.

For example, organizations representing Jewish and Sikh communities have helped us improve our ability to screen religious travelers. The Sikh community has partnered with our office and the Federal Protective Service to develop training posters on how security guards should screen people who wear or carry certain religious items. We also co-sponsored an excellent seminar on violent extremism with the Anti-Defamation League.

When Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit the Gulf Coast earlier this fall, we worked with our colleagues from immigration groups to ensure that evacuation materials were translated and messages were spread within communities. We are convinced that lives were saved.

Our relationships with disability rights organizations have helped us attract accomplished new employees. These organizations have also supplied subject-matter experts to help us analyze the emergency operations plans of a dozen major cities. This groundbreaking analysis was a key component of the Department’s Nationwide Plan Review, which set the agenda for improving emergency management post-Katrina.

We have also invested a great deal in outreach to American Arab and Muslim communities. We have regular roundtables with government officials and community leaders in Washington, Detroit, Houston, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles. Our senior leaders have briefed groups when a new policy is announced, such as recently when Kip Hawley briefed the community groups on Secure Flight—an initiative that will decrease watchlist misidentifications. Secretary Chertoff has personally invested a great deal in this effort – speaking to the South Asian Chamber of Commerce in Houston, meeting with inter-faith religious leaders at a mosque, discussing issues with Pakistani-American doctors, and holding roundtables with students from these communities.

After almost six years of this engagement, we have tangible evidence that engagement between the Department and these communities is effective. Consider the following

• Earlier this year, we held a call with a number of community leaders to talk about the imminent release of a European film critical of Islam. As a result, several prominent Muslim leaders in this country wrote and spoke to their communities about the appropriate response to a film of this sort. Their work decreased tensions among Muslim communities and helped to prevent a repeat of the Danish cartoons controversy.
• At our Houston roundtable, an FBI colleague made a presentation about the threat of extremism among young people. The participants understood the message and wanted to address the concern locally and proactively. They organized a program for the imams of 11 of the largest mosques in Houston to all speak out against extremism on a single Friday, and then developed an anti-extremism curriculum that was taught in the mosques in subsequent weeks.
• After Katrina hit, disability advocates filled several trucks with medical equipment and supplies. However, they did not have enough money to pay for the trucks to drive across country to the Gulf Coast. When a Muslim civil rights organization heard about the situation, it raised the money within 24 hours, and the trucks were on their way.
• Community leaders have offered to encourage the youth in their communities to put aside skepticism and seek employment with the federal government. As a result, we were able to create the National Security Internship, a partnership between the FBI and DHS that brought almost two dozen Arabic speakers into our intelligence divisions. Next summer’s class will be even larger, and will expand to bring Arabic speakers into TSA and ICE.

The bottom line is this: community outreach educates our citizens; conversely, it educates us. We know from experience that community outreach builds support for the homeland security mission and it makes the people who carry out that mission more effective.

Daniel W. Sutherland
Office of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties

Diversity and Readiness

To the Men and Women of the United States Coast Guard and our Shipmates in the Department of Homeland Security.

I was pleased this week to address the Annual National Naval Officers Association (NNOA) in Portsmouth, Va. From their website, “The National Naval Officers Association (NNOA) actively supports the Sea Services in recruiting, retaining, and developing the careers of minority officers. The NNOA provides professional development and mentoring for its members. The NNOA continues to establish and maintain a positive image of the Sea Services in minority communities and educational institutions.”

This year’s conference was particularly meaningful because it coincided with the 60th Anniversary of Executive Order 9981 which was signed by President Truman on 26 July 1948. Executive Order 9981 ended segregation in the armed forces and required that “there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” Since then, there has been great progress made in the Armed Forces since the end of World War II to remove barriers and ensure equality among all of those who serve our country in uniform.

That said challenges still remain to ensure our Coast Guard is an inclusive service that values and promotes diversity. Diversity is a concept that extends far beyond the traditional legal notions of equal opportunity and civil rights. Diversity is really the broad representation of culture, religion, values, ethnicity, gender, education, life experience, professional qualification, and the other many things that make us unique as individuals.

As I noted in my remarks at NNOA inclusion of diverse individuals and viewpoints produces better decisions and action in organizations. I really see diversity as a readiness issue that all of our senior leaders and unit commanding officers must consider as one of the keys to effective mission execution.

To that end, I believe we must redouble our commitment to creating a more diverse workforce in the Coast Guard. For the last several months I have been working with my diversity advisors, listening to feedback from the Diversity Advisory Council, and talking to our units in the field. Together with the Vice Commandant, VADM Vivien Crea, and with the support of senior leaders, we intend to implement a series of initiatives aimed at improving our diversity at accession points and increasing retention through improved career development and management.

I outlined the initial steps we intend to take in my remarks at the NNOA Conference.

• We will enhance senior leader participation with Minority Serving Institutions including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, those institutions affiliated with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and Tribal Council Institutions.


• We will increase attendance by senior leaders and commanding officers at national conferences of affinity groups such as NNOA, the Association of Naval Services Officers, Coast Guard Women’s Leadership Association and Blacks in Government.


• I have directed that Officer Evaluation Reports for junior officers be signed by the reported on officer before the report is forwarded from the command to establish parity with our enlisted evaluation system.


• We will expand the use of Individual Development Plans to all O-4s and E-6s and below.


• We will focus our College Student Pre-commissioning Initiative (CSPI) toward institutions with more diverse student populations.


• Finally, we will begin a pilot program to promote Coast Guard career opportunities for diverse candidates in the Baltimore, Md area.

Instituting these changes will take time, but we are committed to moving forward “at best speed.” Our Assistant Commandant for Human Resources will provide updates on these items and future endeavors through a series of messages. Some initiatives, such as the IDP program which have the potential to increase workload will be piloted first to ensure we get it right.

There are more changes coming, but as we refine our strategy and deploy it, I want to make sure you have a voice. I want to hear your ideas on how we can develop a diverse workforce to improve mission effectiveness. Please comment on this journal posting so others can see and build on your ideas. I previously asked all Coast Guard personnel to direct our Guardian Ethos towards each other, those who serve beside us. This initiative is in keeping with that Ethos and I ask for your active involvement.

Admiral Thad Allen
Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard