We testified about the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to ensure equal opportunity in employment at DHS. For example, DHS uses things like employee surveys to help identify potential barriers and reported some improvements in representation of minorities and women from FY 2014 through 2017. However, it lacks performance metrics for tracking its progress. Last year, we made 6 recommen...

Environmental justice seeks to address the disproportionately high health and environmental risks found among low-income and minority communities by seeking their fair treatment and involvement in environmental policy. California's mostly minority and low-income community of West Oakland, for example, is surrounded by 3 freeways and a port. Its residents are exposed to diesel air pollution 3 times...

To prevent unlawful discrimination, federal agencies are to identify barriers to equal opportunity in employment and address weaknesses they find in their equal opportunity efforts. Our review of the Department of Homeland Security found it identified barriers and had plans to address them. For example, it investigated a higher-than-expected departure rate by white females from DHS. It found poss...

TSA says that its screeners may refer passengers for additional screening if they exhibit behaviors that indicate stress, fear, or deception. Screeners are prohibited from picking passengers based on factors such as race or ethnicity. We testified that TSA has guidance and checklists to monitor screeners’ use of behavior detection, but should better target unlawful profiling. We recommended in...

We assessed whether there are racial or gender disparities in the military justice system. Among other things, we found Blacks, Hispanics, and males were more likely than Whites or females to be tried in general and special courts-martial in all military services Race was not a statistically significant factor in the likelihood of conviction in general and special courts-martial The services d...

How did older people or those with disabilities fare immediately after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria? Emergency managers and others told us it was sometimes difficult to locate these survivors and provide the help many needed to find food, medicine, and oxygen. Further, FEMA's application for assistance contained disability questions that were easily misinterpreted. This may have led to fewe...

TSA says that its screeners may refer passengers for additional screening if they exhibit behaviors that indicate stress, fear, or deception. Screeners are prohibited from picking passengers based on factors such as race or ethnicity. TSA has guidance and checklists to monitor screeners’ use of behavior detection, but should better target unlawful profiling. We recommended TSA develop addition...

The USCG is making progress toward becoming a model equal employment opportunity (EEO) program, as defined by EEOC. In fiscal year 2008, the USCG established a cross-functional task force, including many divisions of Coast Guard and co-led by the Civil Rights Director and the Assistant Commandant for Human Resources, to identify EEO problems, review data, as well as develop and implement plans to...

The United States Coast Guard's (USCG) Civil Rights Directorate's (CRD) principal functions are to provide Equal Opportunity (EO) services to its approximately 50,000 active duty military, and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) services to its 8,000 civilian employees. We reported in April 2010 that CRD had taken action to help resolve its management challenges, such as dissatisfaction among USCG...

In 1935 the Indian Arts and Crafts Act was enacted, establishing the Indian Arts and Crafts Board as an entity within the Department of the Interior. A priority of the Board is to implement and enforce the act's provisions to prevent misrepresentation of unauthentic goods as genuine Indian arts and crafts. As the market for Indian arts and crafts grew and the problem of misrepresentation persisted...