--- title: Diversity: CIA Lags in Recruiting Diverse Workforce, Reports Finds description: The Central Intelligence Agency’s efforts to bring more minorities into its workforce haven’t been as effective as hoped canonical: https://time.com/3941782/cia-diversity-recruitment-report/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-30T17:10:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:45.094Z article:section: Politics og:title: CIA Lags in Recruiting Diverse Workforce, Reports Finds og:description: Mission not yet accomplished on diversity og:url: https://time.com/3941782/cia-diversity-recruitment-report/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CIA Lags in Recruiting Diverse Workforce, Reports Finds twitter:description: Mission not yet accomplished on diversity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # CIA Lags in Recruiting Diverse Workforce, Reports Finds > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3cb57a08-bd4c-49f4-bcae-3086008a3c81&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edward Snowden [Watch (HLS stream): Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edward Snowden](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cxBatp7g.m3u8) (2:26)  _Published 2013-12-11. TIME's Michael Scherer explains why NSA leaker Edward Snowden is on the short list for the 2013 TIME Person of the Year._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 30, 2015 5:10 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 30, 2015 5:10 PM UTC The Central Intelligence Agency’s efforts to bring more minorities into its workforce haven’t been as effective as hoped, according to a new internal report. The report finds that since 2008, recruitment of minority officers has declined “to levels lower than what is necessary” to maintain the agency’s current levels of minority representation. Currently, racial and ethnic minorities make up about 24% of the entire CIA workforce. The CIA says diversity and maintaining a diverse workforce is essential to its mission. Without varieties of perspective among employees, CIA Director John Brennan said Tuesday, officers can become susceptible to “group think,” which could lead to lapses in intelligence and security. Without a diverse workforce, Brennan said, “we’re not going to be able to do our job.” **MORE** [The CIA’s Latest Mission: Improving Diversity](http://time.com/3826472/cia-diversity/) CIA Director John Brennan commissioned the Diversity in Leadership study in January 2014, shortly after a report led by Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that examined [women’s leadership roles across the agency](https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/CIA%5FWomen%5FIn%5FLeadership%5FMarch2013.pdf). That study, released in 2013, found that women comprise about 45% of the agency’s workforce and 31% percent of senior leadership positions. The agency is currently in the process of implementing the recommendations of that report. The 2015 Diversity in Leadership study was chaired by famed Civil Rights activist and attorney Vernon Jordan. Brennan said increased competition in the workforce has likely contributed to the decline in minority recruitment. At a recent trip to a historically black college, he said, the students he met with were impressive—but also courting several offers from private companies that have more attractive salaries and benefits than the agency. The agency’s challenge is to become an “employer of choice” for applicants who can thrive—and make a lot of money—at private companies. And once recruits get in the door, impediments to success remain. Only 10.8% of the senior ranks of the CIA are racial and ethnic minorities, according to the study. The number of African-Americans in the senior ranks has declined in both percentage and actual number between 2004 and 2014\. The percentage of Hispanics in the CIA workforce is significantly lower than in the civilian workforce. The study also found that the agency lacks an inclusive culture and that many groups don’t have access to formal informal networks that can lead to career advancement. A survey of officers found that many LGBT, minority, and officers with disabilities felt that they had to “hide aspects of their identity” in order to thrive within the agency. Many officers said they didn’t even feel comfortable advocating alternative viewpoints within their work groups. In lieu of agency-led networks, African-American officials have historically hosted informal groups where they can talk freely about their experiences and assist officers in efforts to seek new positions. In an interview with [TIME ](http://time.com/3826472/cia-diversity/)earlier this year, a veteran officer said some still meet regularly for social and networking events. “We made that a point of pride,” he told TIME. “It was a thing of, ‘I may not get there but we want to position you to get to the top.’” Brennan said he hopes the report sends a strong signal to his workforce that he takes diversity and increasing minority representation across the board seriously. ## Transcript >> Edward Snowden made TIME's shortlist for 'Person of the Year' this year. In late spring and early summer I once known a contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton, who was working for the National Security Agency began contacting reporters around the world saying he wanted to give them information. He basically took, as one person told me, one of everything. From the deepest, darkest safe house within the NSA describing almost everything they are doing around the world to collect information both on regular citizens and on traditional surveillance targets. The effects of these disclosures have really been earth shaking both domestically and around the world. In the U. S. there's Congressional Reform efforts President Obama has come up saying he wants to pursue reforms, there's resolutions with the United Nations that could actually change the way the world talks about privacy as a human right. And then there are a number of diplomatic crisis that have started as a result of this. The sense of the allies of the United States very upset about the surveillance that's been disclosed. And finally there's a real fear among U. S. technology created that foreign customers will not trust them now both because there are working relationships between the NSA and these companies. But also because the Snowden disclosures revealed that the NSA was also hacking into these technology companies without their knowledge. Snowden was 29 years old when he leaked this information. He has since turned 30, he's living now in Moscow on a one year asylum grant from the Russian government. He is someone who has thought very deeply about what he did. He thought very strategically about the information he leaked, and he has a cogent argument which has been spreading. And, for that reason I think that the mark that Snowden will leave on the world is that he is the person who has really introduced in a popular sense the notion that this brave new world of internet communication which gives us so much wonderful things can have a dark side. >> This is about a trend in the relationship between the governing and the governed. >> And there is a requirement among democratic states to think about the issues that arise here and figure out what rules and regulations they want to put in play. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3941782/cia-diversity-recruitment-report/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3941782/cia-diversity-recruitment-report/"},"headline":"CIA Lags in Recruiting Diverse Workforce, Reports Finds","datePublished":"2015-06-30T17:10:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:45.094Z","description":"Mission not yet accomplished on diversity","url":"https://time.com/3941782/cia-diversity-recruitment-report/","keywords":["intelligence","CIA"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/intelligence/","name":"intelligence"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3941782/cia-diversity-recruitment-report/","name":"CIA Lags in Recruiting Diverse Workforce, Reports Finds"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edward Snowden","description":"TIME's Michael Scherer explains why NSA leaker Edward Snowden is on the short list for the 2013 TIME Person of the Year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cxBatp7g/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-11T12:42:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cxBatp7g.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3941782/cia-diversity-recruitment-report/","duration":"PT2M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3941782/cia-diversity-recruitment-report/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```