ALCOAST 332/09 Announces NAACP Roy Wilkins Renowned Service Award

Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice

SUBJ: 2009 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP) ROY WILKINS RENOWNED SERVICE AWARD WINNER

1. IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE TO ANNOUNCE THAT MR. KENNETH HUNTER, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OFFICER OF THE COAST GUARD ACADEMY, HAS BEEN SELECTED AS THE COAST GUARD RECIPIENT OF THE 2009 NAACP ROY WILKINS RENOWNED SERVICE AWARD. ROY WILKINS WAS AN AMERICAN SOCIAL
REFORMER AND CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER WHO SERVED CONTINUOUSLY AS THE NAACP EXECUTIVE SECRETARY AND LATER AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FROM 1955 TO 1977. AS TESTAMENT TO HIS LEGACY, THIS AWARD WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1980 TO RECOGNIZE INDIVIDUALS WHO EMBODIED THE SPIRIT OF EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS.

2. MR. HUNTER DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF BY SERVING AS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF HANDS AGAINST HATE OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT. HE COORDINATED AND MODERATED STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCY EXPERT PANEL DISCUSSIONS ON HATE CRIMES AND BIAS INCIDENTS THAT WERE WIDELY ATTENDED BY
RESIDENTS OF VARIOUS RACES AND ETHNICITIES. HE ALSO CREATED AN ANNUAL AWARD TO CELEBRATE THE LEGACY OF THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN CGA PROFESSOR, DR. WILLIAM DEHOMER WALLER, FIRST APPOINTED IN 1961. ADDITIONALLY, MR. HUNTERS INFLUENCE AND DEDICATION TO DIVERSITY AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN THE SEA SERVICES WAS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE RECENT REACTIVATION OF THE NEW ENGLAND CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL NAVAL OFFICERS ASSOCIATION.

3. MR. HUNTER WILL BE PRESENTED THE ROY WILKINS RENOWNED SERVICE AWARD AT THE NAACP ANNUAL ARMED SERVICES AND VETERANS AFFAIRS AWARDS DINNER IN NEW YORK CITY, NY ON 14 JULY 2009.

Eighth Coast Guard District Change of Command Friday 5 June 2009

Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry is scheduled to relieve Rear Adm. Joel R.Whitehead in a formal change of command ceremony, Friday, June 5, 2009 at 10 a.m. at the New Orleans Port Authority Building, New Orleans

Rear Adm. Joel R. Whitehead’s official portrait and biography

Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry’s official portrait and biography

The U.S. Coast Guard Band “A Salute to America’s Veterans, Past and Present”

By MUC Leah Abbott

NEW LONDON, CONN.—The U.S. Coast Guard Band, the premier band of the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security, presents a unique performance at Lisner Auditorium at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, on Friday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m. The Band salutes those who have served our nation with a concert presented in an innovative format, with small and large ensembles placed throughout the hall.
 
From a small fife and drum group to the full contingent of the Coast Guard Band, from the Revolutionary War to present-day conflicts, the Band presents music spanning our nation’s history in battle. Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” written for those who fought in World War II, opens the concert dramatically with members of the brass section placed throughout the hall while percussionists play from the stage. Robert Jager wrote “The Wall” in homage to those with whom he served in the Vietnam War; images of the Vietnam Memorial accompany the tone poem. “Liberty for All,” written by James Beckel, incorporates narrated passages from Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy. The “American Civil War Fantasy” includes the stirring “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” with the versatile and talented Musician 1st Class Lisa Williamson as soprano soloist. Film highlights of the Coast Guard’s response to Hurricane Katrina are screened with a live soundtrack of “God Bless the USA.” The United States Coast Guard Dixieland Jazz Band and the Masters of Swing play medleys from the First and Second World War eras.

The performance is free and open to the public. No tickets are required. Lisner Auditorium is located on the campus of The George Washington University at 730 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052. For more information on Lisner Auditorium, visit www.lisner.org. The Coast Guard Band’s concert information line is (860) 701-6826; the web address is www.uscg.mil/band.

Devastating Coast Guard Civil Rights Problems Have Persisted for Nearly a Decade

The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, Chairman
Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
Hearing on
“Civil Rights Services and Diversity Initiatives in the Coast Guard”
April 1, 2009

“Having read all this, what was perhaps most disappointing to me was not just the devastating nature of these individual findings, but the fact that the problems they describe have apparently persisted for nearly a decade.“

Editorial Note:  At the time of the release of the Booz Allen Hamilton report, the current Director, Office of Civil Rights had been on the job nearly 3 years.

Coast Guard Contractors, Employees and Officers Could Face Jail

Reader Commend Spotlight

Submitted in reply to Mainstream Media Picks up on DeKort False Claims Act Lawsuit against Integrated Coast Guard Systems

Submitted on 2009/06/03 at 1:10am James M. Atkinson

Key take away point is that Coast Guard contractors, Coast Guard employees, and even Coast Guard officers could spend the rest of their lives in prison over this matter.

-jma

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 37 > § 798

§ 798. Disclosure of classified information
(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information—
(1) concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or
(2) concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or any foreign government for cryptographic or communication intelligence purposes; or
(3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or
(4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

Office of Civil Rights Rolls Out New Field Office

Our Contacts at Headquarters Coast Guard confirm that the Office of Civil Rights has been and will continue to be on the road making good on one promise made at the 1 April 2009 hearing on Coast Guard Civil Rights.  Field Offices are being established presumably using the six new Full Time Employees Ms. Dickerson announced at the hearing in April.  A feature in the May issues of Civil Rights on Deck announced a visit to Alameda, CA to meeting with units in the field.

Blow-up of the caption in the photo at right: The Office of Civil Rights is meeting with personnel out in the field to familiarize them with post-modernization EEO service delivery plans and obtaining their input. Left, Commander Kofi Aboagye discusses plans while on-board a 44 ft Response Boat Medium (RB-M) in District 1 (Boston).  To the right, Francine Blyther (foreground) and Patricia Tyler (background) board a 25 ft Response Boat (RB-S) from District 11 offices (Alameda, CA) to Station Golden Gate (San Francisco), which are among locations where they received tours and met with personnel.

Later this week Ms. Dickerson will travel to Portsmouth, Va to Atlantic Area Headquarters for site visit and to meet with Civil Rights Service Providers from around the region.  Later in July, Dickerson is expected to roll out the new Civil Rights Field Office in Elizabeth City, NC.

What remains to be seen is where the six new employees will come from.  Dickerson told congress on 1 April that these were new billets and she needed to advertise and hire.  Reports from contacts at Aviation Logistics Command in Elizabeth City indicate that their Equal Opportunity Adviser was swept up by Dickerson without their knowledge.  Much as many of the OCR’s programs have become secret and known only to a few insiders on the staff, the decision to sweep up this billet from a unit in the field was carried out in secret.  Contacts in Atlantic Area confirm that an employee in Portsmouth let this cat out of the bag with a surprise call to ALC’s EO employee surprising him and his command.

If the six new employees Dickerson spoke of in April include captured billets from units in the field as reported to CGR, Coast Guard would be well served to notify the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Transportation now.  While the OCR has sworn its staff to secrecy, the rest of the Coast Guard watching this grab for billets under cloak of darkness have not.

Transparency this is not.