Defense Accounting Agency Pressured to Diversify

About 3 percent of the staff of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service's Rome, N.Y., are minorities, and that's not sitting well with local leaders.

About seven minority candidates have been offered jobs at the firm since January, company officials said.

But the Rev. Erwin Shepphard said “no real” progress has been made since the last meeting.

“They blame the system. Race is a part of it,” he said. “It is no more than another tactic to hold down the minorities.”

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, security concerns were heightened, and many firms now require security checks, officials said. These can take months because of under-staffed federal offices, officials said.

“The system does not discriminate,” said Roy Higgins, director of the local office at Griffiss Business and Technology Park.

But such answers weren’t convincing enough for some applicants.

Leaders: DFAS should hire more minorities [Utica Observer-Dispatch]