Excerpt:
In the eight years since it was formed, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has received complaints from groups that feel they have been mistreated as they board airplanes, cross borders or even enter federal buildings. A large number of these complaints came from the American-Arab, Muslim, Sikh and South Asian communities. In an effort to respond to these criticisms and correct improper procedures, the department's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties began in 2003 to reach out to diverse communities throughout the United States on which DHS policies have an impact.
"Often people don't know what the Department of Homeland Security is," says Kareem Shora, head of that office's Community Engagement Section. "They don't know we're 22 different agencies with a very diverse set of responsibilities."
More than 87,000 different governmental jurisdictions at the federal, state and local levels have homeland security responsibilities. The department's goal is to develop a complementary system connecting all levels of government in an effort to protect the American people and their homeland. Among the department's major components that regularly interact with citizens are Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard.