You Cannot Hide Your Organization’s Culture

by Pamela Coleman

February 2026

Important note: This analysis of the culture within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not constitute a political statement. DHS has a complex organizational structure comprising numerous units, including the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The DHS website emphasizes its mission and core values, as presented in the following blog. For more information, please visit the website listed below.

In my upcoming book, Cultural Coherence: A Model For Turning Culture Into a Strategic Lever, I contend that an organization’s culture shapes experiences within its stakeholder network. These experiences reveal more about the organization's true nature than what leaders showcase in a mission statement or a list of core values. While crafting a cultural vision statement can establish the foundation for a culture’s organizing framework, if there is no effort to link the vision to the behaviors that support it, the culture can quickly become incoherent.

About the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

The mission of DHS is stated as “With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values.” DHS’s core values are Integrity, Vigilance, and Respect. The guiding principles that support the execution of the DHS mission are (see www.dhs.gov/core-values):

o   Champion Relentless Resilience for all Threats and Hazards

o   Reduce the Nation’s Risk to Homeland Security Dangers

o   Promote Citizen Engagement and Strengthen and Expand Trusted Partnerships

o   Uphold Privacy, Transparency, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties

o   Ensure Mission-Driven Management and Integration.

In almost every organization, these three components should underpin actions and policies. Let's briefly examine how effectively this is working for DHS.

How DHS Acts

Activities on the ground in Minnesota have been widely documented and shared, including footage of masked men disrupting communities with tear gas and other actions to “safeguard the American people,” as stated in the agency’s mission statement. The chaos has endangered Minneapolis residents, and people around the world are alarmed and distressed by the images, which are changing how both DHS and ICE are viewed. The contrast between the DHS mission and what observers see is striking.

While transparency is an admirable goal for any organization or agency, the DHS considers it a guiding principle alongside the protection of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. However, ICE and Border Patrol agents wear masks that conceal their identities. Leaders have not clearly outlined their objectives for the federal presence in Minnesota, making it difficult to accurately measure progress. Some reports suggest that DHS objectives focus on numbers and aim to increase arrest counts. Other reports indicate that on-the-ground actions are meant to instill fear or discourage public engagement. In most corporate settings, employees would see these conflicting narratives as lacking transparency. 

Policy and administrative leaders Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem frequently offer the public exaggerated and inaccurate interpretations of events, which further undermines transparency. I believe it is fair to say that leaders have not fully embedded transparency into the operating procedures of either DHS or ICE, leading to an erosion of integrity and a widespread, perhaps pernicious reshaping of their culture.

Civil liberties, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to assemble peacefully, the right to bear arms, and the right to feel secure at home, have not been adequately protected. Indeed, it can be argued that the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments in the Bill of Rights have been violated. Government agents are dousing protesters with tear gas, shoving bystanders, smashing windows, and forcefully entering homes without judicial warrants. Do these actions reflect integrity, honor, and respect?

Federal agents have been using their phones to take photos of American citizens and send those images to a database that assesses immigration and criminal status. Reports indicate that license plate scanners in parking lots are being used for the same purpose. Do these actions respect and protect privacy?

Leaders can quickly influence an organization’s culture when their actions do not support its mission or reflect its values. In such cases of cultural breakdown, talent management, including recruitment, suffers because the cultural environment becomes toxic. People need clarity to do their best work. The cultural coherence model encourages leaders to clearly communicate a cultural vision that energizes the strategic mission. Additionally, the model states that cultural outcomes are coherent only when leaders’ and employees' actions align with the culture’s organizing principles.

The leaders of the Department of Homeland Security have missed the mark.