Homeland Security
You are a program analyst with the Department of Homeland Security, assigned to DHS Headquarters. You
work in the Office of the Secretary, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL). You are responsible for
developing guidance and policy to support civil rights compliance and providing recommendations to address
complex civil rights issues. You also provide a full range of advice, training, support, outreach, and complaint
investigation related to civil rights concerns connected with the access to DHS-supported or conducted
programs by individuals with limited English proficiency, or to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) 287(g) program, along with other federally conducted and supported activities.
Your superior has assigned you an unusual task in anticipation of an in-house training and development
program. This office is clearly focused on civil rights, but you have been asked to play devil’s advocate for a
day. Your office deals with complaints of civil rights violations, investigating complaints brought by individuals
with limited English proficiency. Your task is to present a memo that will be distributed to everyone at the
training as required reading.
Your memo will be on the topic of: How might the DHS look and function if civil rights and civil liberties were not
valued?
Your answer to the following question can assist you in developing your memo: If the DHS employed a true
public-order approach to combating terrorism, what would they do differently right now?
Assignment Guidelines
Use your course materials, the library, and relevant Internet research options to research what the Office of the
Secretary, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) does, and how its operations affect homeland
security policy decisions.
Address the following in 2-3 pages:
What functions does the Office of the Secretary, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) perform?
Explain.
This is the starting point for this assignment. Once you understand what the office does, then you can start to
work on identifying how the DHS might change its function if civil rights and civil liberties were no longer a
requirement.
Do the activities and operations of the Office of the Secretary, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL)
impact homeland security policy decisions? Why or why not? Explain in detail.
How might the DHS change its function if civil rights and civil liberties were no longer a requirement? Explain in
detail.