Diversifying the CIA: A Response to “How Secrecy Limits Diversity
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To the Editor:
Matthew Connelly and Patricia Irvin raised several important points in their recent article about the need for greater diversity in the U.S. intelligence community (“How Secrecy Limits Diversity,” May 12, 2023).
From the perspective of the CIA, we are working hard to create a more diverse workforce. Not only is this the right thing to do in order to reflect the richness and diversity of American society, it also is the smart thing to do as an agency with global responsibilities that operates in a lot of very complicated, incredibly diverse landscapes around the world.
The authors discussed the need to reduce the amount of time between applying for a position with an intelligence agency and receiving a job offer. We agree. As CIA Director William Burns described in a recent speech at Rice University, we have surged personnel and modernized our application system to address this problem. As a result, it now takes a median time of less than 180 days to get a final job offer from the CIA, compared to the more than 600 days it took two years ago. We also have reduced our application backlog from 10,000 applicants two years ago to less than 50 today. Further, we are stepping up recruitment this year in all 50 states, and we are focused on prospective officers who have strong language skills, as well as those who excel in various STEM fields.
Our diversity efforts are also starting to pay off. Last year, we reached historic highs in hiring women and minority officers, as well as officers with disabilities. And we promoted into our senior ranks the highest percentages of women and minority officers in our 75-year history, demonstrating that there is a pathway to the top for anyone whose work merits it, whatever their background.
We recognize that there is still much more to do. We at CIA will continue to strive to improve the diversity of our workforce so we can better protect the nation.
—Tammy Kupperman Thorp
Director of the Office of Public Affairs
Central Intelligence Agency.
