voting, schools, employment, housing, public facilities, and public accommodations, has been unable to carry out all of these activities with maximum effectiveness.

a. The Division has been consistently understaffed, which limits the number of lawsuits in which it can participate and restricts its ability to become involved in all areas of importance.

b. Until recently, the Division had not established a system of written priorities. Currently, its priorities are ordered in terms of its own statutory mandate rather than in terms of the national need for improved civil rights performance.

c. The Division focuses its activities on law enforcement through litigation and pays insufficient attention to its nonlitigative powers.

2. The Department of Justice, which has been the focal point of the Federal civil rights enforcement effort over recent years, has not been able to establish effective coordination of the civil rights activities of other departments and agencies.

a. The Attorney General has no authority to direct other Departments and agencies to take specific actions. On occasion, his advice on civil rights has been ignored by these agencies.

b. The Department has tended to view civil rights issues in terms of litigation and has been insufficiently concerned with the need for more effective Governmentwide administrative enforcement.

E. Bureau of the Budget

1. Although the Bureau of the Budgetthrough its central role in the budget submission process, its authority to review and comment on all legislative proposals and its responsibility for approving agency data collection proposals can play a significant role in improving the effectiveness of civil rights compliance and enforcement, it has failed to do so. a. The Bureau has not officially acknowledged that it has any civil rights coordinating role, nor has its staff received any civil rights training.

b. Civil rights concerns are not systematically included in the budget review process, but are considered only when individual examiners happen to have an interest in civil rights.

c. No systematic review is made of agency civil rights programs to determine if there is

sufficient funding to meet the requirements of particular civil rights laws.

d. Although the Bureau encourages Federal agencies to collect a wide variety of data for the purpose of determining how effectively their programs are working, it has not recommended Governmentwide collection of racial or ethnic data to permit the Bureau and the agencies to determine if Federal assistance programs are reaching minority group citizens on an equitable basis.

e. In its review of substantive legislation having important civil rights implications, the Bureau usually neither inquires specifically into the civil rights aspects of the legislation nor requests the comments of agencies that have civil rights expertise.

2. The Office of Management and Budget, which will replace the Bureau of the Budget under the President's recent reorganization plan, will focus on implementing national policy and evaluating the results of agency efforts to carry out its program assignments. This will permit the new Office to become more deeply involved in agency activities implementing national civil rights policy, including evaluation of the civil rights implications of agency programs and coordination of agency civil rights efforts.

F. The White House

1. Despite the efforts of White House civil rights units established over the years, such as the Subcabinet Group on Civil Rights and the Council on Equal Opportunity, White House coordination of civil rights is still not conducted on a systematic and comprehensive basis.

(a) Although there are specific White House staff members currently assigned to civil rights enforcement, some have other duties which impinge significantly on their time.

(b) Reports received at the White House from agencies on their civil rights activities are inadequate for purposes of accurate evaluation of agency performance. Further, no systematic effort to evaluate these reports is made.

(c) White House staff has undertaken a number of ad hoc projects concerning civil rights, but no systematic effort has been made to evaluate the enforcement activities of Federal agencies, to coordinate their civil rights

efforts, or to set goals or priorities for the agencies.

2. The White House Council on Domestic Affairs, established under the President's recent reorganization, is intended to serve as a coordinator of executive policy. The Council on

Domestic Affairs, through establishment of a civil rights Subcommittee, and the new Office of Management and Budget can work in cooperation to develop national civil rights goals and priorities and assure that the agencies work effectively to carry them out.

The responsibility for seeing that civil rights laws, as well as all other laws, operate with maximum effectiveness lies with the President. To carry out this responsibility, the President is entitled to and must have the full cooperation and support of all executive departments and agencies that serve under his direction. The Commission believes a vehicle outside the Federal bureaucracy is needed, responsible to the President, to provide the assistance he needs in setting national civil rights goals and priorities and assuring that the activities of Federal agencies serve to achieve them. For this purpose the newly created mechanisms in the President's Office-the Council on Domestic Affairs and Office of Management and Budgetcan be utilized effectively.**

**Among the recommendations that have been made to strengthen the overall Federal civil rights enforcement effort is the creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Human Rights. See Ripon Society Magazine, Feb. 1969. See also R. Nathan, Jobs and Civil Rights (prepared for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights) 245-63 (1969).

Under this proposal, all civil rights enforcement responsibility would be transferred to a new Department whose sole functions would pertain to civil rights. This proposal has the attraction of elevating considerations of civil rights to the highest councils of Government and creating a single civil rights chief of Cabinet status. In addition, this proposal, by consolidating all civil rights enforcement responsibilities in one agency, undoubtedly would contribute substantially to eliminating existing problems of inadequate coordination among the various agencies with civil rights responsibilities.

One principal problem with this proposal is that the Secretary of Human Rights would be, at best, the coequal of a number of other Cabinet Secretaries whose departments would continue to operate programs having important civil rights implications. He would not have the authority to order his Cabinet colleagues or other agency heads to take specific civil rights actions. If conflicts should arise, he would have to rely, as does the Attorney General under the existing structure, on Presidential intervention which, as a practical matter, he could call for only in the most crucial matters. Further, removal of civil rights enforcement responsi

1. The President should establish a special Civil Rights Subcommittee of the White House Council on Domestic Affairs, with the following responsibilities:

(a) To identify civil rights problems, develop specific national goals, and establish Governmentwide priorities, policies, and time-tables for their achievement.

(b) To establish, with the assistance of the Office of Management and Budget and Federal departments and agencies, such mechanisms and procedures as are necessary to expeditiously implement the policies and achieve the goals.

(c) To determine the need for additional civil rights legislation and Executive orders or for strengthening of existing civil rights laws. and Executive orders.

2. The President should instruct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to establish a Division on Civil Rights within his office, which would work closely with the Civil Rights Subcommittee of the Council on Domestic Affairs, and provide civil rights guidance and direction to OMB examiners and other appropriate OMB units.

3. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget should direct appropriate office units and Budget examiners to give high priority to civil rights considerations in their dealings with Federal departments and agencies,

bility from existing departments and agencies would tend to lower the priority accorded to civil rights in their decisions on substantive program operation.

If the Secretary of Human Rights were provided with authority to order his Cabinet colleagues or other agency heads to take specific actions, such as terminating Federal financial assistance under programs covered by Title VI, additional problems would arise. Removal of the right to determine the operation of their own programs from other Cabinet members and agency officials undoubtedly would lead to institutional resentment of the new Department and its Secretary and would deter the full cooperation that is necessary if substantive programs are to be harnessed for purposes of promoting civil right goals.

subject to the guidance and direction of the OMB Division on Civil Rights. Among their specific duties should be:

(a) To assist agencies in developing civil rights goals of sufficient breadth and specificity and in establishing program priorities and policies to promote achievement of these goals.

(b) To evaluate existing compliance and enforcement mechanisms, such as compliance reports, collection of racial and ethnic data on program participation, onsite compliance reviews, complaint procedures, and imposition of sanctions, utilized by agencies having civil rights responsibilities and, where necessary, to recommend appropriate changes to assure vigorous and uniform civil rights implementation.

(c) To evaluate the extent of coordination between the operation of substantive programs and civil rights enforcement efforts and recommend such changes as are necessary to promote more effective coordination.

4. In furtherance of national civil rights goals, priorities, and policies established by the Council on Domestic Affairs, all agencies should, in cooperation with the Office of Management and Budget, establish specific civil rights goals toward which their programs and activities would be directed. They should specifically delineate the steps and procedures by which these goals will be achieved. These should include reference to the overall results to be achieved,

a timetable for their achievement, the way in which substantive programs will be geared to the effort, and the compliance and enforcement mechanisms that will be utilized.

5. The President should direct the head of every Federal department and agency to elevate the position of chief civil rights officer to a level equal to that of officials in charge of agency programs. To the extent legislation is necessary to accomplish this, as in the case of establishing assistant secretary positions, Congress should enact such legislation.

6. The President should direct the heads of all Federal departments and agencies to submit proposals for increased staff and financial resources necessary to carry out their civil rights responsibilities with maximum effectiveness. These proposals should be evaluated by the Office of Management and Budget and, where necessary, adjustments should be made based on a realistic assessment of agency civil rights responsibilities and the staff and other resources necessary to fulfill them. The President should request appropriations legislation to provide the necessary resources and Congress should enact such legislation.

7. All agencies with civil rights responsibilities should increase their compliance and enforcement activities significantly to assure adequate attention to the civil rights problems of such groups as Spanish surnamed Americans, American Indians, and women.

I. EMPLOYMENT

A. Federal Employment

1. The Civil Service Commission should clarify its current policy, emphasizing specific goals in the Federal equal employment opportunity effort and develop a Governmentwide plan designed to achieve equitable minority group representation at all wage and grade levels within each department and agency. This plan should include minimum numerical and percentage goals, coupled with specific target dates for their attainment, and should be developed jointly by CSC and each department or agency.

2. CSC and all other Federal agencies should develop and conduct large-scale training programs designed to develop the talents and skills of minority group employees, particularly those at lower grade levels. Congress should amend the Government Employees Training Act, as necessary, and should appropriate sufficient funds to permit these programs to operate with maximum effectiveness.

3. Existing procedures concerning complaints of discrimination should be strengthened in the following ways:

(a) Free legal aid should be provided on request to all lower grade employees who require it. In this connection, CSC should take the lead in establishing a Governmentwide pool of attorneys who are prepared to volunteer their services in discrimination complaint cases or adverse actions involving minority group employees.

(b) Agencies should take appropriate disciplinary action against supervisors or administrators who have been found guilty of discrimination.

(c) Adequate compensation, such as retroactive promotion and backpay, should be provided to employees who have been discriminated against in promotion actions. To the extent legislation is necessary for this purpose, Congress should enact it.

4. CSC should direct all Federal departments and agencies to adopt new procedures it has developed for collection and maintenance of racial and ethnic data on Federal employment. CSC should use the expanded data basis to produce studies and reports to provide public information concerning such matters as recruitment efforts, training, rates of hiring, promotions and separations by race and ethnicity, and other significant facts concerning Federal personnel practices.

5. Increased efforts should be made to increase substantially the number of minority group members in executive level positions by recruiting from sources that can provide substantial numbers of qualified minority group employees, such as colleges and universities, private industry, and State and local agencies. B. Contract Compliance

OFCC, with the assistance of the 15 compliance agencies, in implementing OFCC's recent regulations on affirmative action requirements, should develop a comprehensive equal employment opportunity plan, on an industry-by-industry basis, aimed at obtaining equitable representation of minority group members in all industries and at all job levels. The plan should include the following elements:

1. Establishment of numerical and percentage employment goals, with specific timetables for meeting them and procedures describing the means by which they will be met.

2. Development of uniform data collection and compliance reporting systems and procedures for evaluating and following up on the information submitted.

3. Development of uniform onsite compliance review systems containing procedures for establishing priority of reviews, frequency of reviews, and review techniques.

4. Prompt imposition of the sanctions of contract termination and debarment where non