WASHINGTON, Jun 30, 2015 (AP) – The CIA is failing to hire and promote enough minorities despite years of vowing to do so, Director John Brennan said Tuesday, announcing a new effort to tackle the problem of a largely white workforce whose lack of diversity he says is undercutting the spy agency’s intelligence mission.
The agency has seen the percentage of minorities hired slip since 2008, the study found, despite previous diversity pushes by past directors.
“We didn’t achieve the goals and objectives that we had as an institution,” Brennan said.
The director pledged to change course, promising to hold senior managers accountable for hiring and promoting minority candidates. That has not happened to date, said the study, which was led by Vernon Jordan, a prominent African-American figure in Washington who serves on CIA advisory boards. The team interviewed more than 200 current and former CIA employees, Jordan said in a letter, and used results of a workforce survey that got a 40 percent response rate.
“The agency does not hold its officers accountable for creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace,” the study said.
Brennan acknowledged that some employees will greet his move with cynicism, having heard such rhetoric before.
“We’re not kidding,” he said. “This is real, this time.”
But Brennan, who is fluent in Arabic and led the CIA station in Saudi Arabia, spoke of a pressing, mission-driven need for more diversity.
