Come join us at DHS! We're hiring CX experts across the Department.
The Department of Homeland Security is committed to ensuring the public can seamlessly interact with its agencies and offices and is taking active steps to reduce administrative burdens and improve efficiency, equity, and accessibility throughout the customer experience (CX).
- Implementing Mobile Driver’s Licenses: Not as Easy as You Think
Physical driver’s license holders may soon be able to apply for Mobile Driver’s Licenses (mDLs) stored on smartphones if they want to move to a digital ID, thanks to a collaborative project involving the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and TSA.
- TSA Enables Arizona Residents to Use Mobile Driver’s License or State ID for Verification at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport | TSA.gov
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), in collaboration with the State of Arizona and Apple, deployed a new technology that allows airline passengers to use their state-issued mobile driver’s license or mobile identification card in Apple Wallet on iPhone or Apple Watch to verify their identity for airport security screening purposes.
- TSA Launches Cutting-edge Passenger Identification Technology at LAX Security Checkpoints | TSA.gov
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has introduced new facial recognition technology to verify the identity of guests at some of the airport’s security checkpoints.
- CBP Announces Facial Biometric Pilot for Inbound Vehicle Travelers at Anzalduas International Bridge | USCIS.gov
This enhanced process for international travel, known as Simplified Arrival, uses facial biometrics to automate the manual document checks that are already required for admission into the United States and provides travelers with a secure, touchless travel experience.
- USCIS Begins Implementing New Interactive Voice Response Telephone System | USCIS.gov
USCIS is introducing a new interactive voice response (IVR) telephone system today for English and Spanish calls to the USCIS Contact Center.
- CBP Expands Simplified Arrival to Houlton, Jackman, and Calais Ports of Entry | CBP.gov
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced today the start of an innovative facial biometric pilot in select vehicle lanes at the Anzalduas International Bridge Port of Entry (POE), Texas for travelers arriving in the United States.
- Appeals Branch Continually Improves Customer Experience and Efficiency | FEMA.gov
For the last four years, the Federal Insurance Directorate (FID) has approached policyholder claim appeals through the lens of the customer experience work started in 2017.
CX Highlights from DHS HQ
- Designing for Safety: A Trauma-Informed User Research Guide
Many government services aid the public during their most difficult moments, and through research we are learning how trauma affects our brains and nervous systems. We are leveraging this knowledge to best design government services to account for individual’s trauma. -
Innovative Research and Design Methods in the Humanitarian Immigration Space
On the Global team at USCIS, we create and manage software that helps officers in the humanitarian immigration space manage, interview, and adjudicate cases as quickly and efficiently as possible given the many policy and legal constraints on these systems.
- CX in Action: Mapping the New Employee IT Onboarding Experience
To refine and enhance new employee onboarding, the Headquarters IT Operation Division project team partnered with the Customer Experience (CX) Directorate to learn how to leverage CX methodologies, with a focus on human-centric approaches.
- Fiscal Year 2023 CX Highlights from across DHS!
The Department of Homeland Security has put customers first by using best in class customer experience (CX) practices, built products and services to better serve diverse communities, and enhanced our knowledge of CX across the Department.
- Accessible Plain Language at DHS: Transforming Thinking and Empowering Action
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants customers to get the information they need and use it meaningfully. Accessible plain language ensures customers, and their experiences, are centered throughout the various touchpoints they have with DHS.
- For Best Results, Be There!
You’ve decided to conduct usability testing to learn more about your users’ experience with your services. Now the question is, what methods will get you the best data to make design decisions?
- Roundup of Our Best Resources
CX – it’s big, it’s bold, it’s….challenging! We get it! We know you have questions and face hurdles. We have resources and answers that can help!
- DHS Accessibility Day 2023: Achieving Equality Through Accessibility
Our goal this year is to shine a spotlight on DHS' endeavors to create an environment that nurtures diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and a satisfying customer experience. - We Hear You: How the Public Engages with DHS
DHS interacts with millions of people each day across a diverse set of mission spaces, creating the opportunity for tons of customer feedback that provide the Department with a treasure trove of data about how our services and policies are affecting people and how we can improve them.
- Growing Customer Experience at DHS: A Journey to Prioritizing CX to improve people’s lives
By prioritizing customer experience (CX), DHS is improving the way it serves its customers. This helps reduce the burden on the public and builds trust between the public and the government. DHS is looking to improve CX by measuring CX across the department.
- CX Practitioners: “Inspirers in charge”
The inaugural CX Demo Day was a smashing success, thanks in no small part to our amazing presenters, the cast of about a hundred people behind the scenes for production, and of course, all you wonderful practitioners and champions in the field, making it happen!
- Equity + CX = Burden Reduction
DHS customers experience over 190 million hours of "paperwork" burden each year. Reducing this burden is a key component of improving customer experience.
- DHS Announces Customer Experience Improvements One Year Following President Biden’s Executive Order
Homeland Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced customer experience improvements the Department has implemented since President Biden’s signed the Executive Order, “Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government,” which directed agencies to improve the overall experience for customers accessing government services and benefits.
- Lessons Learned Over One Year of the CX Executive Order
It's been a year since the signing of the Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government.
- Secretary Mayorkas Reviews Customer Experience Progress with Homeland Security Advisory Council, Swears in New Member
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas convened a meeting of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (“the Council”) to discuss how the Department can continually improve the American public’s experience when engaging with DHS, as well as the delivery of its key services such as trade and travel facilitation, immigration benefits processing, and aviation security screening.
- Why We Need UX Researchers and Designers in the Federal Government (Part 3)
In our previous articles, we covered why design is important for delivering government services and why having federal designers is critical to that process. Next, let’s focus on how you establish design roles at your agency, recruit talented designers, successfully interview candidates, and ensure that designers are successful within your organization.
- Why We Need UX Researchers and Designers in the Federal Government (Part 2)
In the last article, we outlined why human-centered design is critical for researching, designing, and delivering the critical products and services DHS provides to meet our mission objectives. When we understand customer needs (and again, we mean both external customers and internal customers), we can design more effective, efficient, and equitable services that meet those needs.
- Why We Need UX Researchers and Designers in the Federal Government (Part 1)
Almost everything you use or touch in your daily life is intentionally designed and design extends beyond the physical objects to the services you experience.
- DHS Launches Technologist Hiring Initiative to Improve User Experience for General Public
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced a major new hiring initiative to transform customer experience (CX) and improve service delivery. The goal is to hire hundreds of mission-driven technologists with product management and customer experience expertise through the largest hiring initiative in any federal agency.
- Does DHS Really Have Customers?
The “customer experience” is how people experience and perceive our government services. It is what happens at the touchpoints when someone interacts with a government service. Customer experience describes the touchpoints as “moments that matter." The customer experience could be one touchpoint or several over a longer relationship between “customer” and government.
- User Acceptance Testing Versus Usability Testing
While it might feel like UAT and usability testing are interchangeable terms or that if you’re doing one, that should suffice for user input, they’re actually different tools for learning about the effectiveness of a digital product. Each method provides value towards delivering effective, human-centered products or services.
- Statement from Secretary Mayorkas on President Biden’s Customer Experience Executive Order
The Department of Homeland Security is committed to ensuring the public can seamlessly interact with its agencies and offices and is taking key steps to reduce administrative burdens and improve efficiency, equity, and accessibility throughout the customer experience.
- Is There a Difference Between Customer Service and Customer Experience?
As we’re working across DHS to talk about customer experience with stakeholders, one misconception has been prevalent. And that is the notion that customer experience and customer service are the same and can be used interchangeably. They are different, but they are both critical parts of improving government services. The difference really comes down to perspective.
