Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), landmark civil rights legislation that broke down age-old barriers to equality for millions of Americans with disabilities.  In the two decades since, we have learned that equal access for people with disabilities—to services, employment, buildings and programs—is best protected by thorough integration of their needs into ordinary, day-to-day activities.  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) promotes that integration every day, through all our components and activities.  Some examples:

• DHS makes determined efforts to remove barriers to employment for people with disabilities; the result is that over 8,000 DHS employees report that they have a disability.  This fiscal year so far, DHS has hired nearly 500 veterans with disabilities. Our work in this area includes outreach, targeted internships, special hiring events, and training of hiring managers. 

• Government websites relating to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill have, by the efforts of employees across DHS, been made entirely accessible to people with disabilities. 

• Working through Department of Defense leadership, CRCL offers training to military commanders during the Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) in emergencies.  Our training focuses on disability as well as other civil rights issues.  In 2010, we provided training to 120 National Guard commanders.

• If members of the public have disability-related complaints, CRCL runs a fair and effective process to address those complaints and learn from them going forward. As a result of CRCL recommendations, over the past year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection initiated an action plan to ensure equal access for travelers with disabilities at both the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa Ports of Entry.  Not only did CBP install new benches, new signage, and accessible water fountains and restrooms, it took the next step of instituting training requirements for all supervisory CBP officers nationwide on providing reasonable accommodations, and issued a directive with specific guidance on processing individuals with health concerns and/or disabilities.

• CRCL and the DHS Chief Information Officer jointly created the Office of Accessible Systems & Technology (OAST), which provides IT-related reasonable accommodation recommendations for employees with disabilities.  Training and technical assistance is provided to support the employee and enhance his or her job performance.  OAST operates a DHS Accessibility Help Desk, a single point of entry for disability-related services and technical assistance for employees and customers of DHS.  OAST works with the developers of hundreds of web and software applications used here at DHS to improve accessibility of their products.

• Staff from the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties drafted Executive Order 13347, Individuals with Disabilities in Emergency Preparedness (PDF, 4 pages - 92 KB), which went into effect in July 2004.  Since the inception of the Executive Order, the Secretary of Homeland Security has designated the CRCL Officer to chair the resulting Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC), and CRCL works with the Council and with FEMA to incorporate the needs and perspectives of people with myriad disabilities—visual and hearing impairments, mobility impairments, intellectual disabilities, etc.—into emergency-related policies and procedures. Most recently, the ICC's focus has been on helping shape the National Disaster Recovery Framework to ensure individuals with disabilities are fully integrated into planning efforts and have access to vital services to support their living, learning, and working during long-term community recovery.

Through these and other efforts, we work at DHS every day to live up the civil rights promise of the ADA. 

Margo Schlanger
Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

The Department of Homeland Security has launched the Blue Campaign, our unified effort to combat human trafficking. According to the State Department’s 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report, more than 12 million adults and children are subject to forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution around the world. And the United States is not immune to this global problem.

With annual trade exceeding $30 billion worldwide, trafficking continues to attract criminals to this market for human lives. Eradicating this horrible crime requires a concerted effort by governments, law enforcement, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

This is why DHS is bringing agencies together to coordinate our resources and expertise in launching the Blue Campaign. The name is a reference to the “Blue Heart” (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) and the “Blue Blindfold” (United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre), as well as the “thin blue line” of law enforcement. Components from across the Department – led by ICE, CBP, USCIS, and FLETC – will participate in the campaign and work together as part of a unified DHS effort.

The elements of the Blue Campaign are organized around the “3 Ps” of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000: protecting victims of human trafficking through rescue, referral, and immigration relief; preventing human trafficking through targeted public outreach and education; and contributing to human trafficking prosecutions through law enforcement investigations. The Blue Campaign also emphasizes a fourth P: partnering creatively to aggressively fight trafficking in persons.

The launch of the Blue Campaign coincides with the 10-year anniversary this year of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and its international counterpart, the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women Children. During the last decade, we’ve made significant strides in spreading awareness about human trafficking and enhancing our tools to investigate and prosecute traffickers.

During the next decade, we need to do more, which the Blue Campaign will help us achieve. To learn more about the Blue Campaign and about what you can do in your community, visit the new Blue Campaign website: www.dhs.gov/humantrafficking. You can also email the DHS Human Trafficking Initiative Steering Committee at BlueCampaign@dhs.gov. As the chair of that committee, I welcome your ideas and encourage you to become involved in the effort to protect freedom, protect your country, and help end modern slavery.

Alice Chamberlayne Hill
Senior Counselor to the Secretary

Cross-posted from The USCG Blog.
“A tremendous tribute.” - Vice Adm. Sally Brice-O’Hara, Coast Guard Vice Commandant


The massive, brand new 418-foot cutter provides surprisingly little shade on the hot and sunny pier in Pascagoula, Miss., where the Coast Guard’s most influential female leaders from past and present gather to remember, honor and celebrate the legacy of Capt. Dorothy Constance Stratton and the SPARs the day before First Lady Michelle Obama christens the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton.

Several of the 24 SPARs proudly dressed in a uniform resembling the one they wore during World War II more than 65 years ago… a crisp white button-down shirt, carefully tied black ascot, neatly pressed slacks and a garrison cover pinned with the Coast Guard shield.

Joined by the family members and guests, their laughs can be heard across the room and their smiles illuminate with each passing peer.

All of them gather here for one purpose – to take part in the naming of the newest Coast Guard cutter after their leader and friend, Capt. Stratton.

“Dorothy Stratton was a trailblazer,” said Vice Adm. Brice-O’Hara. “Her legacy, which is represented by all the SPARs who are with us, is enduring.”

“Dorothy Stratton was a leader, bringing women into the service,” said Capt. Bruce Baffer, the Stratton’s prospective commanding officer. “[The christening] is a celebration of how far women have come in the Coast Guard. There are no jobs they can’t do.”

“[Dorothy Stratton] was really a women ahead of her time. When you think of all the leadership positions she had not just in the Coast Guard but as dean the of women at Purdue and the executive director of the Girl Scouts,” said Melinda Cook, Dorothy’s great niece and one of eleven family members that traveled from the west coast to be at this week’s events.

“This event is a culmination of Dorothy Stratton’s achievements and to what she did as a career women in the military before and after her service. The scale of this event really matches her achievements and we are just honored to be a part of it,” said Kelly Cook, Melinda’s husband.

“Its quite an honor for the family,” said Barbara Stratton Myers, Dorothy’s niece. “I don’t think that in her lifetime she thought this would happen. Number one that [the ship] would be named after a female, and number two that it would be named after her.”

“Aunt Dorothy would be extremely humbled and would down play everything,” added her nephew, Rick Stratton. She would question what all the fuss was about, he said.

She may be modest but the “fuss” is well deserved recognition helping to remind every Coast Guardsman that steps aboard the ship for many years to come of her memory and accomplishments.

Thank-you Capt. Stratton for your service. Thank-you to her family members and fellow SPARs for being here to help the Coast Guard celebrate this special occasion.

Cross-posted from The TSA Blog.


What better way to start my first blog post than to let you know I am very interested in what the public has to say. My top priorities include improving TSA's counterterrorism focus through intelligence and cutting edge technology, supporting the workforce, and strengthening our relationships with stakeholders and the traveling public.

I've seen firsthand that strong counterterrorism efforts include an engaged and informed public and it’s imperative that we listen.

Last year, we announced one of the boldest and most far-reaching initiatives to improve efficiency and increase transparency in the federal government.

The hard work and innovative ideas of DHS employees have led to hundreds of millions of dollars in cost avoidances through the DHS Efficiency Review—from leveraging the buying power of the Department by consolidating software licenses to eliminating non-mission critical travel, posting publications online instead of printing them, and moving events and conferences to government buildings from private facilities, among many others.

These efforts helped capture the attention of the President, who established the annual SAVE Award contest last fall to identify the best ideas for saving money and improving performance across the federal government. Last year, more than 38,000 ideas were submitted government-wide in just three weeks.

DHS employees led this effort, submitting thousands of ideas, twelve of which have served as the basis for new DHS Efficiency Review initiatives in 2010, including paperless earnings and leave statements for employees across the Department; bulk purchasing agreements for furniture, non-military uniforms, and wireless communication devices and services; and reciprocity of security clearances for those coming to DHS from other federal agencies and law enforcement entities.

Now, the President wants to hear from DHS employees again about their Efficiency Review ideas for how DHS and the entire federal government can continue to trim costs and save taxpayer dollars.

I encourage all DHS employees to submit their ideas for the 2010 President's SAVE Award online at http://www.saveaward.gov/. The winning idea will be incorporated into the FY 2012 Budget, and the winner will have the opportunity to visit the White House and personally present his or her Efficiency Review initiative to President Obama. The deadline for submissions is Thursday, July 22.

Through the SAVE Award and the Efficiency Review, DHS employees have been a model for changing the way government does business for the better.
For more information, go to http://www.saveaward.gov/.

Janet Napolitano

Many of us do it without even blinking an eye. Internet services have become such as part of our daily lives that logging on to a network to complete work, check your bank account, shop for a new book or post a blog is second nature-- and what you’re providing in order to complete these tasks goes unnoticed. We have become accustomed to being asked for our personal information. Only in the last few years have major concerns over what is being provided online drawn national attention. Identity theft and cybercrime are on the rise around the world, so individuals need to pay particular attention to what information they are providing about themselves and with whom it is being shared online. This is no longer just a matter of personal privacy, but a matter of economic stability and national security.

On June 25th, the White House released a draft National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) that speaks to this very issue. NSTIC proposes an improved online environment where all users have a choice in the personal information they share to perform online transactions. Due to the widespread impact of a national strategy to improve technologies, processes, and even services offered online, NSTIC is available for public comment until July 19th on http://www.nstic.ideascale.com/. This Strategy builds on the recommendations resulting from the Cyberspace Policy Review that was signed by the President in May 2009.

The vision described in this Strategy outlines potential changes to America’s online infrastructure in order to trust identities during online transactions. Details for this vision include guiding principles, goals and potential actions needed to accomplish this change. By creating a consistent way to establish, use and validate identities, individuals, governments and private organizations can interact in a more secure and efficient manner. This is not solely a change for the Federal government; it will take collaboration across public and private sectors, among individuals and groups. We are looking for your input. Please visit http://www.nstic.ideascale.com/ to participate in the discussion.