Watson Coleman: “I only want to point out to the House that part of our responsibility in this committee is to see to it that, indeed, we…”

“I only want to point out to the House that part of our responsibility in this committee is to see to it that, indeed, we understand and recognize our role in dealing with the issue of the hiring, the retention, the promotion of minorities and women and the handicapped in the agencies that we oversee. There have been allegations made public in the past that indeed the NSA, the CIA, the Department of Defense, and others may not have been doing the kind of job we want them to do. Thanks to Chairman Combest's leadership and that of the ranking member, the gentleman from Washington, Mr. Dicks, there have been a series of hearings over the past several years in acquiring and achieving the kind of data that will show that this Congress does take very seriously its charge from this House that we intend to do what the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, said when he took office. That was that we wanted our Government to reflect the diversity that is America. I want to thank publicly Chairman Combest for permitting those hearings.”