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Diversity and Inclusion:

Examining Workforce Concerns 

Within the Intelligence Community

IC Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Office

January 2017
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Table Of Contents............................................................................................................................2

List Of Illustrations..........................................................................................................................3

Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................4

Introduction....................................................................................................................................11

Methodology..................................................................................................................................18

Current IC Diversity Environment.................................................................................................25

Background On IC Workforce Diversity.......................................................................................25

Findings And Recommendations - Introduction............................................................................29

1. Findings And Recommendations – Leadership ........................................................................31

2. Findings And Recommendations – Organizational Culture/Work Environment.....................41

3. Findings And Recommendations – Recruitment And Selection ..............................................50

4. Findings And Recommendations – Advancement....................................................................59

5. Findings And Recommendations – Work/Life Integration ......................................................68

6. Findings & Recommendations – Persons With Disabilities.....................................................71

Other IC Elements Findings Synopsis...........................................................................................77

Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................80

Appendices.....................................................................................................................................83

Appendix A: Further Details On Findings And Recommendations..............................................83

Appendix B: Further Details On Project Methodology .................................................................87

Appendix C: Further Observations Of The IC’s Current Diversity Environment: Workplace 

Concerns Specific To Hispanics And African-Americans ............................................................90

Appendix D: Federal EEO Complaint Process..............................................................................96

Appendix E: Notification To Agency Leadership .........................................................................97

Appendix F: Pool Of Questions For Interviews And Focus Groups...........................................101

Appendix G: Intelligence Community-Wide And Agency-Specific Reports..............................104

Appendix H: Bibliography...........................................................................................................106

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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Figure 1. Five-Year Minority Representation Trends (FY 2011 to FY 2015)...............................15

Figure 2. Five-Year Female Representation Trends (FY 2011 to FY 2015).................................16

Figure 3. Five-Year Persons with Disabilities Representation Trends (FY 2011 to FY 

2015) ......................................................................................................................................16

Figure 4. Minority Representation among Managers by Pay Grade Group (FY 2015) ................17

Figure 5. Female Representation among Managers by Pay Grade Group (FY 2015)...................17

Figure 6. Intelligence Community Agencies and Elements Included in this Study ......................18

Figure 7. Intelligence Community Reports Requested, Collected and Analyzed..........................19

Figure 8. Total Volunteers across IC Agencies and Elements.......................................................21

Figure 9. Interviewees by Self-Identified Minority Group............................................................22

Figure 10. Focus Group Participants by Self-Identified Minority Group......................................23

Figure 11. Leadership Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart .....................................32

Figure 12. Organizational Culture and Work Environment Findings and 

Recommendations Summary Chart .......................................................................................42

Figure 13. Recruitment and Selection Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart.............51

Figure 14. Advancement Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart.................................60

Figure 15. Work/Life Integration Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart....................68

Figure 16. Persons with Disabilities Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart ...............71

Figure A.1. Leadership Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart ...................................83

Figure A.2. Organizational Culture and Work Environment Findings and 

Recommendations Summary Chart .......................................................................................84

Figure A.3. Recruitment and Selection Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart...........84

Figure A.4. Advancement Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart...............................85

Figure A.5. Work/Life Integration Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart..................86

Figure A.6. Persons with Disabilities Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart .............86

Figure A.7. Weisbord Six-Box Model: Organizations as Systems................................................87

Figure A.8. McKinsey’s Seven S Model .......................................................................................88

Figure A.9. Analytic Framework for Assessing Barriers to Workforce Diversity and 

Inclusion.................................................................................................................................88

Figure A.10. Hispanic Representation in the IC Compared to Other Population 

Benchmarks (FY 2015)..........................................................................................................92

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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The Intelligence Community Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity office (IC EEOD) 

commissioned this report to conduct an in-depth examination of barriers pertaining to hiring, retention, 

and career development of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in the IC. This report builds 

upon extensive prior data analysis and reporting conducted annually within the Office of the Director of 

National Intelligence (ODNI) and across the IC. Utilizing external resources for neutrality and 

objectivity, employees were given the opportunity to speak candidly and share individual perspectives on 

diversity and inclusion—inclusion being the glue that ultimately allows diversity to stick.1

 This report 

also examines underrepresented groups’ concerns in the workplace through the lens of an extensive 

literature review, with the goal of determining why these issues continue to exist despite numerous 

attempts to break them down.

Diversity and inclusion efforts present deeply rooted and complex problems that have been the subject 

of concern by the IC for many years. The IC has recognized the importance of having a diverse 

workforce – both to ensure that it performs at its best and to ensure that it maintains the confidence of the 

American people. Yet despite varied and on-going efforts to address diversity concerns, the data shows 

disparities and challenges for many groups still persist. According to the Intelligence Community’s 2015 

Annual Demographics Report, minorities made up 24.6% of the IC workforce in fiscal year 2015, a 1.4

percentage points increase since 2011. By comparison, in 2011, minorities made up 30.0% of the Civilian 

Labor Force (CLF) and by 2014, had made a gain of 2.5 percentage points to 32.5%. Employees with 

disabilities represented 7.9% of the IC workforce, up from 5.3% five years ago. However, by 2015, 

persons with disabilities were employed in the CLF at a rate of 17.5%. And the number of women at IC 

agencies has remained practically unchanged — 38.5% of the workforce compared with 38.6% in 2011 In 

contrast, the number of women in the CLF was 46.0% in 2011 and increased slightly to 46.1% by 2014.

2 

These statistics demonstrate that despite significant effort, there has been limited improvement, and many 

of the IC’s workforce challenges persist. 

This study is unique in two ways. First, the fact that it sought to look across the entire IC as an integrated 

entity makes it the first of its kind. Although this study presents quantitative and qualitative results from 

various modes of data throughout the report, the findings and recommendations are based on a synthesis 

of results from all the data modes. Thus, although information gathered about individual IC elements was 

used as representative examples of certain practices or results relevant to the discussion, the findings treat 

the IC as a single unit of analysis. Second, that it was entirely performed by outside consultants gives it 

neutrality, and within that unique neutral space, employees spoke candidly about their personal struggles 

with inclusion. Research shows that inclusion is the essential ingredient for diversity to have an impact. 

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management defines inclusion as a “set of behaviors (culture) that 

encourages employees to feel valued for their unique qualities and experience a sense of belonging.”3

Studies by Deloitte University Press (2014), the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM, 2010) 

and McKinsey (2014) demonstrate that there is common acceptance in research that diversity for 

diversity’s sake is simply an exercise in analysis of numbers. Without a sense of inclusion, the fact that a 

 1 Riordan, Christine, “Diversity is Useless without Inclusivity.” Harvard Business Review, June 5, 2014. 

https://hbr.org/2014/06/diversity-is-useless-without-inclusivity/. 2 Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) Report for fiscal year 

2011 to Congress https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/diversity-and-inclusion/reports/feorp2011.pdf; and OPM FEORP 

Report to Congress Fiscal Year 2014 https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/diversity-and-inclusion/reports/feorp-2014.pdf. 3 Office of Personnel Management, Government-wide Inclusive and Diversity Strategic Plan , https://www.opm.gov/policy-dataoversight/diversity-and-inclusion/reports/governmentwide-inclusive-diversity-strategic-plan-2016.pdf, July 2106, Page 5.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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workforce may approximate representation of the population does not translate into value for the 

organization in terms of mission outcomes and impact. Thus, without the perception of a fair and 

inclusive work environment, essential gains derived from a diverse workforce are diminished and an 

organization risks employee apathy, disengagement, and attrition.

4

 

The case for diversity and inclusion is clear. Along with an inclusive work environment, diversity in 

both leadership and the workforce are critical to maximizing mission effectiveness and impact. Given its 

national security mission, there is no more important place to encourage and support a culture of diversity 

and inclusion than in today's Intelligence Community. As the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) 

affirms,5 the intelligence effort is only strengthened by the presence of diversity and inclusion to attract 

and retain the type of employee who is most qualified for acting in the defense of this nation. The value of 

increasing diversity, especially in underrepresented segments such as minority groups, women and 

persons with disabilities, expands the talent base and more accurately reflects analytic capabilities 

necessary to evaluate and meet mission requirements.6

 Indeed, one of the main goals stated by the DNI in 

Leading Intelligence Integration is to “promote a diverse, highly-skilled intelligence workforce that 

reflects the strength of America.”7

Although there has been a great deal of research on the sources of workplace inequality, there has 

been little on the effectiveness of different programs for countering it. Research has shown that, at best, 

“best practices” are “best guesses.”8

 As one noted researcher observed, “We know a lot about the disease 

of workplace inequality, but not much about the cure.”9

 A challenge is often then issued from leadership, 

that “What we have been doing has not been effective and we need to do something different.” This 

study takes a somewhat different approach from a traditional barrier analysis. Generally a barrier analysis 

involves the identification of anomalies found in workplace policies, procedures, practices, and conditions 

through a heavy reliance on workforce data tables and comparisons to other data sets (e.g., civilian labor 

force). While other data sources such as workforce surveys and employee input from agency employee 

and advocacy groups are employed, the emphasis is generally on comparing numerical data tables. This 

study shifted emphasis toward a more workforce-impact focused methodology complimented by a strong 

literature review addressing what empirical research has identified. This study strove to allow members 

of the IC workforce to be comfortable in commenting on issues they are unlikely to say directly to 

supervisors or managers and, in some cases, even avoid reporting to EEOD offices, or to Ombudsmen. 

Frequently, direct quotes are presented in this report to illustrate problem areas from the perspective of 

workforce members. The personal stories of the employees who make up the IC were heard. Some 

success stories were conveyed, but more often individuals expressed frustration at what are pervasively 

perceived as inequalities in the workplace environment. 

IC employees are committed. Firm, deeply-embedded commitment was heard time and again throughout 

virtually every aspect of this study – from the numerous interviews conducted, to the many focus groups 

 4 Riordan, C., “Diversity is Useless without Inclusivity”.

5 ODNI, Director of National Intelligence’s Statement on Intelligence Community Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity,

Washington, DC, November, 2010. 

https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Statement%20on%20Intelligence%20Community%20EEOD.pdf. 6 Kohli. J., et al. "A Better, More Diverse Senior Executive Service in 2050: More Representative Leadership Will Improve the 

Effectiveness and Efficiency of the Federal Government." Center for American Progress, September 22, 2011. 

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2011/09/22/10251/a-better-more-diverse-senior-executive-service-in-2050/. 7 ODNI. IC EEOD. Director’s Statement on Intelligence Community Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity. ODNI 

Website. https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Statement%20on%20Intelligence%20Community%20EEOD.pdf. 8 Dobbin, F., Kalev, A., and Kelly, E. “Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action 

and Diversity Policies.” American Sociological Review, 2006, Vol. 71 (August: 589:617). 9 Dobbin, F., Kalev, A., and Kelly, E. “Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action 

and Diversity Policies.” American Sociological Review, 2006, Vol. 71 (August: 589:617).
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organized across all grade levels and demographics. During these sessions, the emphasis was not only on 

obtaining information regarding perceived barriers, but in actively listening to the participants to ensure 

that they felt heard and would thus be more open to sharing their thoughts. In addition, this approach 

oriented this report more toward the workforce members rather than numerical data. By exploring the 

emotional impact on employees, the research team could better understand not just the existence of 

potential workplace barriers, most of which had been identified multiple times in the past, but the actual 

impact on the attitudes or perception of employees, and through this process assist agencies in better 

understanding the full impact of these issues on the IC’s work climate. Thus, this study looked at work 

climate factors that are expressly adverse to diversity, as well as whether differences in the ways that 

various demographic groups perceive the work climate might be impacting diversity improvement 

efforts. Perception is an essential component of an inclusive environment which, in turn, is the other side 

of the coin to diversity. 

The findings of this report revealed a series of themes of perceived barriers to diversity in the IC with 

respect to women, minorities and persons with disabilities. These themes focused on 

structural/organizational and policy concerns, issues in workplace and environmental attitudes and 

perceptions, and physical impediments that still exist within some areas of the IC. These findings give 

important insight into how culture and diversity relate to one another: the more different a person is from 

the traditional group of power in an organization, the more likely that person is to experience cultural 

distance or separation from the dominant ways of operating within that organization. This cultural 

separation often leads to both the perception and the reality of barriers experienced by people of minority 

demographics, and it increases in workplaces where there is strong pressure to assimilate to the existing 

dominant cultural norms, such as those often found within the IC. In instances where this study was 

unable to determine whether this negative perception corresponds to real inequities in practice or policy, 

the study finds that the perception in and of itself is relevant to the IC. Two primary themes underscore 

many of the findings of this report – the lack of diversity in leadership ranks and the lack of transparency 

in employment practices – which contribute to these perceptions of different treatment and experiences 

commonly held by employees of minority demographic groups in the IC. 

This study highlighted six major areas where the IC can take an integrated approach to reduce or 

eliminate workplace challenges to hiring and retaining a more diverse workforce. The following six 

variables were defined as key to assessing the state of diversity in today’s IC environment. Within these 

six variables, specific associated points, or subcategories, narrow discussion to the most relevant topics 

for the IC as a whole. These variables and subcategories include: 

• Leadership 

o Diversity Optics

o Leadership Skills

o EEO/Diversity Leadership Practices

• Organizational Culture/Work Environment 

o Workplace Diversity

o Perceptions of “Tokens and Quotas” – Racial and Gender Stereotypes

o Hierarchical Structures

• Recruitment and Selection 

o Need for Diversity in Recruiting Sources

o Need for Cultural Sensitivities in Recruiting

• Advancement

o Promotion/Opportunities

o Mentoring
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o Key Assignments/Joint Duty Assignments/Career Development 

• Work/Life Integration

o Flexible Work Arrangements

o Paid Family Leave 

• Persons with Disabilities 

o Facilities and Assistive Technologies

o The Employment Cycle: Recruitment, Career Development and Advancement

o The Reasonable Accommodation Process

o Self-Reporting of Disabilities

In all, this study had 36 separate findings and recommendations. The following is a concise consolidation 

of the findings focusing on six primary themes and recommendations. These summary consolidated 

themes are broken out into individual elements with extensive details and descriptions in the Findings and 

Recommendations chapters of this report, and are further summarized in tabular form in Appendix A. 

FINDINGS

1. Leadership - Minority demographic representation in leadership positions is lacking. Seeing role 

models from minority demographics in senior leadership would be powerful and inspiring; the lack of 

these role models leads minority employees to question an agency or element’s commitment to 

diversity. Worse, perceptions of “token” promotions or appointments only serve to confirm negative 

stereotypes and alienate employees. 

2. Organizational Culture/Work Environment - Despite strong messages promoting diversity at the 

most senior levels of the IC, middle managers and supervisors are often unsuccessful in promoting a 

diverse and inclusive workplace culture. Mid-level managers are commonly viewed as lacking 

empathy for non-majority cultural experiences and often avoid addressing poor performance and 

workplace inequalities. Well-intentioned programs suffer from poor-image problems due to narrow 

views if associated solely with “equal employment opportunity” and “diversity”.

3. Recruitment and Selection - In recent years, hiring and selection decisions have increased the 

incoming talent pool of women, minorities and persons with disabilities. However, the IC struggles 

to provide the type of inclusive workplace culture to retain these populations in the leadership 

pipeline, eventually leading to less representation at the most senior levels. 

4. Advancement - Minority-demographic groups perceive unfairness across a number of employment 

practices, particularly promotion and advancement opportunities. There is a common concern that 

impenetrable majority groups limit minorities’ access to premium job assignments, mentoring and 

performance feedback. 

5. Work/Life Integration - Many employees across the IC struggle with work-family conflict, and do 

not find supervisor support for the flexibility needed to manage their personal requirements. Issues 

with work/life integration seem to be systemic process issues that affect all employees within the 

community; however, these issues may be experienced more heavily by underrepresented groups, 

such as women, who more often have primary caregiver responsibilities.10 

6. Disabilities and Reasonable Accommodations Existing disability-training initiatives are wellintentioned and well-received, but they are only part of the whole and, alone, they are insufficient in 

better informing the workforce and do not create long-lasting behavioral changes. There is a 

perception of widespread inconsistency in how reasonable accommodations are handled across the 

 10 Parker, Kim, “Despite progress, women still bear heavier load than men in balancing work and family” 

FACTTANK, March 10, 2015. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/03/10/women-still-bear-heavier-loadthan-men-balancing-work-family/
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IC, and there is a lack of transparency throughout the request process. These problems may lead to a 

belief that the employee accommodation needs are unimportant and hence the employees with 

disabilities themselves are not valued. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on these findings, and supported by recent research, the following overarching recommendations 

are presented for consideration. Each recommendation maps to at least one of the findings; some cross 

over several of the key findings areas.

Recommendation One: (Leadership) Promote diversity and inclusion at the highest levels of 

leadership, and empower managers and employees at all levels to take responsibility and ownership 

for the diversity health of the organization. Diversity must be promoted at all levels. Encourage 

leaders to engage managers and employees at all levels in solving the problem, enabling them to make 

real change. Instead of defaulting to compliance-driven diversity tactics, engage managers and 

employees in the process of creating a more diverse and inclusive organization, by increasing 

engagements with employees who are from groups whose representation in the workforce is less than 

expected given comparative demographics, and tapping into opportunities for peer-level accountability. 

Go beyond important tools such as unconscious bias training and invest in a comprehensive leadership 

program including management empathy training that promotes awareness, encourages cooperation, and 

approaches diversity challenges with a more forthright, open tone.

Recommendation Two: (Organizational Culture) Use already-available management tools to 

increase diversity at all levels, without branding such effort as a ‘diversity initiative’. Some of the 

most effective tools are not strictly diversity initiatives. Encourage the use of management practices such 

as self-managed teams (i.e., having people in different roles or functions work together on projects as 

equals) and cross-training (i.e., rotating employees through different specialties to increase contact with 

diverse groups), especially within agencies that still have large components with predominantly majority 

group composition. Work side-by-side toward common goals to break down stereotypes. These types of 

management tools are shown to have more positive effects than traditional diversity initiatives on 

impacting real change to workplace cultures.

11 

Diversity programs should have a clear link to mission and impact on driving innovation and improving 

mission outcomes. Adjust key job titles, offices, and practices accordingly (e.g. Chief of Diversity and 

Innovation). Framing EEO and Diversity in terms of mission-workforce realignment and equity is 

increasingly being used by academic institutions, military branches, and top employers to rebrand the 

functional area, leaving room for organizational change.

12

Recommendation Three: (Recruiting) Make long-term investments in relationship-building that is 

necessary to foster trust with certain demographic groups. Establish strategic diversity recruitment 

programs by investing in key relationships with target universities and/or diverse organizations. Improve 

diversity analytics and data reporting capabilities throughout the recruiting and selection process for more 

informed sourcing. Involve more diverse staff in recruiting and selection functions. Consider software 

programs that allow for blind resumes or blind interviewing, which help sidestep the risk of biased hiring 

decisions.

 11 Dobbin, F. and Kalev, A. “Why Diversity Programs Fail,” Harvard Business Review, July-August 2016. 

https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail. 12 Rezvani, Selena. “Five Trends Driving Workplace Diversity Change in 2015,” Forbes. February 3, 2015. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2015/02/03/20768/#61e7792e34c9
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Recommendation Four (Advancement): Increase exposure opportunities by providing active 

mentorship opportunities, where there is professional investment by the mentor in the mentee, and 

shadowing programs that connect employees from traditionally underrepresented groups with 

other members of the workforce, focused on core mission. Identify ways – such as formal and 

informal active mentoring programs, shadowing initiatives, and participation in Employee Resource 

Groups – to nurture diverse employees through the career advancement pipeline in preparation to 

eventually become senior leaders. Circulate internal-advancement opportunities more widely, and 

encourage transparency in the selection process. Avoid the perception of “tokenism” in promotions and 

appointments.

Recommendation Five: (Work/Life) Consider options to increase paid family leave, providing 

employees the flexibility needed to manage times of work-family conflict. Within the limitations 

inherent with working in the IC, explore ways to design job flexibility. Encourage supervisor and 

management support for employees requiring flexibility in balancing their personal requirements, and 

focus efforts on long-term employee retention instead of short-term absence.

Recommendation Six: (Disability) Increase transparency and address perceived inconsistencies in 

the reasonable accommodations process. Continue to educate the workforce about disability issues –

both visible and invisible. As with all employment practices, transparency in assignments, promotions 

and other career-advancement processes allow underrepresented groups to better understand the 

workplace environment and better prepare and compete for key assignments. Define a more-structured 

process across the IC to coordinate reasonable accommodations for employees moving from one agency 

or element to another.

********

Diversity and inclusion initiatives must be strongly supported by research, implemented carefully, and 

then evaluated to ascertain their effectiveness. Research studies have shown that, too often, leaders 

implement aggressive, ineffective diversity policies based on face validity or “common sense,” rather 

than empirical research.13 Not only do these initiatives fail to make organizations fairer for 

underrepresented groups, they risk alienating a substantial portion of the workforce—generally mid-level 

managers, who have the position and responsibility to make real and lasting change. 

IC leaders should consider taking a multi-pronged approach to making changes to existing diversity and 

inclusion policies. Leaders should continue to raise awareness of barriers in the workplace, ideally with 

empathy training combined with unconscious bias training, which presents a non-accusatory explanation 

of how the brain processes information, which can result in negative biases. Ideally training should not 

be weighed down by negative rhetoric that only serves to activate bias or spark backlash.

14 Empathy 

training may be a positive way to encourage managers and employees to be conscious of and understand 

the concerns and frustrations of others. Leaders should also seek to increase employees’ exposure to 

qualified managers and employees of diverse backgrounds, thereby positively impacting the way people 

think about those different groups and eroding currently-held stereotypes and unconscious biases. 

Research shows that exposure to diversity can positively impact the way people think about different 

groups.15 Leaders can take action to increase exposure and modify the way they see others different from 

themselves by providing activities such as: highlighting positive, diverse role models in positions of 

 13 Dover, Tessa L., Brenda Major, and Cheryl R. Kaiser, “Diversity Policies Rarely Make Companies Fairer, and They Feel

Threatening to White Men,” Harvard Business Review, January 4, 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/01/diversity-policies-don’t-helpwomen-or-minorities-and-they-make-white-men-feel-threatened. 14 Dover, et al., “Diversity Policies Rarely Make Companies Fairer.” 15 Phillips, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.”
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leadership; getting involved with employee resource groups; implementing formal mentorship and 

shadowing programs; and more. Finally, leaders should encourage social accountability, rather than 

forced compliance, as a means of mitigating bias and improving diversity and inclusion. Social 

accountability encourages the use of such methods as diversity task forces comprised of volunteers and 

invitees from management and members of underrepresented groups.16 These peer-group task forces 

investigate potential barriers and come up with their own solutions. Instead of force-feeding policies, 

management and employees are actively engaged in improving their work environment.

Each individual IC agency or element must define the approach that best addresses these findings within 

their own, unique workplace culture. How the IC as a whole addresses this study’s findings is crucial to 

improving both the perception and the reality of workplace barriers. This type of change will take 

extraordinarily strong leadership, and in turn will require focused implementation strategies from the 

individual IC element for any substantial results to occur. As in any organization, the leadership of each 

element plays a vital role in setting the tone of the work climate. Leadership’s example must be mirrored 

by the individual managers and supervisors within each respective IC element who are in the most critical 

positions to impact culture. The actions and behaviors of middle-management are crucial to 

implementing successful change initiatives.

The IC can achieve success in diversity and inclusion by treating the process as an enterprise change 

initiative linked to other critical mission priorities. Diversity is not about counting people, but rather 

embedding diversity into every organizational process creating, in effect, a culture of inclusion17—from 

talent acquisition, to workforce development, to leadership planning, and more. It means engaging the 

entire workforce and ensuring involvement of senior leadership. As Wasserman et al. (2008) noted in 

regard to the importance of leaders in creating an organizational culture of inclusion, “leaders establish a 

meta-narrative, or story, that supports the culture of inclusion and actively engages resistance to diversity 

efforts.”18 If handled effectively, diversity and inclusion will be less about checking boxes and more 

about making the IC a dynamic and agile force capable of meeting the national security demands of an 

increasingly complex interconnected world.

 16 Dobbin and Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail.” 17 Shore, L., Randel, A., Chung, B., Dean, M., Ehrhart, K., and Singh, G. “Inclusion and Diversity in Work Groups: A Review 

and Model for Future Research”. Journal of Management. July 2011. Vol. 37 No. 4, July 2011 1262-1289. 18 Wasserman, I., Gallegos, P., and Ferdman, B. “Dancing with Resistance: Leadership Challenges in Fostering a Culture of 

Inclusion”. Diversity Resistance in Organizations. New York, NY: Erlbaum, 2008.
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This section provides a brief summary of the history of the IC’s workplace diversity and inclusion

problems in the context of an extensive literature review. It also provides background for the report and 

includes a discussion of the circumstances leading to the report’s commission. 

Diversity Matters

The case for diversity in the IC cannot be understated. We are living in an increasingly complex and 

interconnected world in which “unpredictable instability” is the new normal.19 Both at home and abroad, 

the U.S. faces such diverse national security threats as terrorism, cyber-attacks, drug trafficking, political 

instability, nuclear proliferation, disease outbreaks, space competition, and much, much more.20 

Countering such diverse threats requires a creative and dynamic IC capable of collecting and providing 

nuanced, multidisciplinary intelligence to law and policymakers, military personnel, and law enforcement 

officials in order to successfully protect 

American lives and interests around the 

world. Indeed, one of the Director of 

National Intelligence’s (DNI) stated 

objectives is to “promote a diverse, highlyskilled intelligence workforce that reflects 

the strength of America.”21

Decades of research reveal the significant 

benefits of a diverse and inclusive work 

environment. Committing to diversity and 

inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do; it is 

linked to measurable improvements in 

business performance.22 Socially diverse 

groups encourage the search for new 

information and fresh perspectives and are 

therefore more innovative and creative than 

homogeneous groups.23 Teams of mixed 

genders, ethnicities, physical abilities, and ages offer a wider variety of viewpoints and a broader range of 

experience, ultimately improving team decision-making and problem solving.24 In fact, simply being 

exposed to diversity can change how individuals think.25 Corporate America is catching on. With 

research increasingly demonstrating that diverse companies outperform their more homogeneous 

 19 Clapper, James, “Opening Statement on the Worldwide Threat Assessment,” February 9, 2016, 

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/testimonies/217-congressional-testimonies-2016/1314-dni-clapper-opening-statementon-the-worldwide-threat-assessment-before-the-senate-armed-services-committee-2016 (accessed July 15, 2016). 20 Clapper, “Worldwide Threat Assessment.” 21 “Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (ODNI). ODNI Mission Statement. ODNI Website.

http://www.dni.gov/index.php/about/mission. 22 Hunt, Vivian et al., “Why Diversity Matters,” McKinsey & Company, November 24, 2014. 

https://web.duke.edu/equity/toolkit/documents/DiversityMatters.pdf. 23 Phillips, Katherine, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” Scientific American, October 1, 2014. 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/. 24 Phillips, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.” 25 Phillips, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.”

INTRODUCTION

Because of our mission, we . . . need a workforce 

that is truly global in perspective, one that can 

understand the subtle cultural nuances and 

complexities of ethnic and linguistic groups and 

subgroups to deal effectively (and sometimes 

clandestinely) with people from all of the various 

countries and cultures of the world.

ODNI Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Five 

Year Strategic Human Capital Plan, 2006
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adversaries, competition for diverse talent has become fierce.26 Already, the IC is finding it difficult to 

keep up with private companies, many of whom can offer higher salaries and a less burdensome screening 

process.27

IC Diversity and Inclusion Efforts

The IC recognizes the importance of diversity and inclusion. From the publication of the 2004 

Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) which stated that the United States must 

enhance its foreign interests through “greater tolerance and respect for religious and cultural diversity” 28, 

to the 2006 establishment of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) IC Equal 

Employment Opportunity and Diversity Office (IC EEOD)29, to the DNI’s most recent statements calling

diversity “mission critical” at the 2016 Annual Women’s Summit30, it is clear that the IC views diversity 

and inclusion as mission-essential elements. In recent years, the IC has worked to identify and promote 

employment practices designed to attract, retain, and develop a diverse workforce. These efforts are 

detailed extensively in ODNI’s FY 2015 Annual Demographic Report on the Hiring and Retention of 

Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities in the U.S. IC, and include such initiatives as providing 

undergraduate training programs for disadvantaged students; developing and strengthening employee 

resource groups; implementing implicit bias training; and more. 

Unfortunately, these efforts have resulted in only marginal improvements in the IC diversity environment. 

The FY2015 Demographic Report indicates that the number of minorities in the IC has increased by only 

1.4 percentage points since 2011, and the number of women has remained practically unchanged. 

Hispanics and African-American males are particularly underrepresented compared to other benchmarks. 

For example, African-American males accounted for only 3.9% of FBI employees in 2014, compared to 

Caucasian males, who accounted for 46.8%. Moreover, women and minorities remain especially 

underrepresented at the most senior levels of IC leadership. The statistical charts following this section 

demonstrate that despite significant effort, persistent workplace challenges continue to hinder 

underrepresented demographics.

Within the IC, as in many organizations, subtle biases in the workplace related to demographics 

have often been reported which make actual work experiences very different for underrepresented

groups. Data collected during the study also confirms the persistence of biases in the IC: interviewees 

and focus group participants spoke of subtle biases in the workplace that can make the work environment 

very different for people depending on their gender, race identity, or disability status. Previous industry 

research and prior IC studies have found a series of work climate factors that tend to create both the 

perception and the reality of barriers for certain demographic groups. These commonly seen trends in 

workplace bias are summarized by Russ Long in his work on social norms, conformity, and racial 

 26 Frankel, Barbara, “Why Top 50 Companies Beat Fortune 500 in Diversity Recruiting, Promotions,” DiversityInc, April 23, 

2015. http://www.diversityinc.com/uncategorized/why-top-50-companies-beat-fortune-500-in-diversity-recruiting-promotions/. 27 United States Department of Justice. Office of the Inspector General. Audit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 

Implementation of Its Next Generation Cyber Initiative. July 2015. https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2015/a1529.pdf. 28 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Public Law 108, § 458, U.S. Statutes at Large 118 (2004): 3638-

872, codified at U.S. Code 50 (2004), § 401.2004, pp. 153,169. https://www.nctc.gov/docs/pl108_458.pdf. 29 Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (ODNI). Office of Intelligence Community Equal Employment Opportunity and 

Diversity (IC EEOD). Director’s Statement on Intelligence Community Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity. ODNI 

Website. https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Statement%20on%20Intelligence%20Community%20EEOD.pdf. 30 Murphy, Brian, “IC Leaders Call Diversity ‘Mission Critical’ at Intelligence Community Women’s Summit,” March 31, 2016, 

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/featured-articles/223-featured-articles-2016/1353-2016-ic-women-summit.
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inequality.

31 His study describes these commonly seen biases according to their impact on cultural 

minority groups. For example:

• Members of the cultural majority group sometimes get more mentoring or mentoring from more 

powerful people than do members of cultural minority groups.

• Members of the cultural majority group are sometimes more likely to be assigned to projects that 

have higher visibility at the top of the organization than do members of cultural minority groups.

• Members of the cultural majority group sometimes receive more helping behaviors such as coworkers volunteering to explain how to do something without being asked than do members of 

cultural minority groups.

• Members of the cultural majority group sometimes have more control over more resources (e.g., 

staff, budget, etc.) than do members of cultural minority groups of the same job grade.

• Members of the cultural majority group are sometimes more readily given stretch assignments 

such as being promoted to higher-profile jobs than do members of cultural minority groups.

• Because members of the cultural majority group often benefit from these biases, members of the 

cultural minority groups sometimes perceive a less positive work climate such as less inclusion, 

fewer opportunities to demonstrate expertise, and more negative performance feedback.

The Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires that federal agencies conduct 

annual examinations of demographic data in order to identify any barriers that disproportionately burden 

identified groups.32 EEO Management Directive 715 (MD-715) defines a “barrier” as “an agency policy, 

principle, practice or condition that limits or tends to limit employment opportunities for members of a 

particular gender, race or ethnic background or for an individual (or individuals) based on disability 

status.”33 When the data indicates that potential barriers exist, agencies need to conduct further inquiry in 

order to identify and examine the factors behind them. A number of agencies within the IC have taken 

proactive steps toward identifying and analyzing barriers specific to their organization. However, this 

report represents the first IC-wide study to look at causes or issues impacting diversity and inclusion, and 

how different demographic groups within the workplace perceive these issues.

Why Diversity Efforts Fail

An extensive review of applicable research and literature reveals that traditional diversity efforts are 

failing. In private industry, large companies have been doubling down on the same approaches to 

diversity they have used for decades without success. Instead of improving diversity and inclusion, these 

programs have done little more than protect organizations from litigation. One problem is that executives 

generally favor a classic “command-and-control” approach to diversity, with mandatory initiatives that 

are remedial in nature and cloaked in negative rhetoric—tactics that tend to trigger bias rather than 

eliminate it. Such a coercive approach breeds resentment amongst managers, who end up feeling 

“blamed and shamed” for their organization’s diversity shortcomings.34 Ultimately, this may cause them 

to resist, rather than support diversity efforts. Moreover, research also suggests that aggressive diversity 

initiatives do little to convince minorities that companies will treat them fairly.35

 31 Long, R. “Chapter 8: Racial & Ethic Inequality – How to Think About Racial and Ethnic Inequality.” Social Problems. 

December 7, 2013. 32 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Equal Employment Opportunity Management Directive 715 (EEO MD-715). 

https://www.eeoc.gov/federal/directives/md715.cfm.

33 EEO MD-715. 34 Dobbin and Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail.” 35 Dover, Tessa, Major, Brenda, and Kaiser, Cheryl, “Diversity Policies Rarely Make Companies Fairer, and They Feel 

Threatening to White Men,” Harvard Business Review, January 4, 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/01/diversity-policies-dont-helpwomen-or-minorities-and-they-make-white-men-feel-threatened.
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Company grievance procedures are also problematic. Research shows that formal grievance systems do 

little to improve diversity and inclusion at large firms, and may actually be counterproductive. Rather 

than address allegations of discrimination, many managers instead disparage or retaliate against 

complaining employees. In fact, 45% of complaints lodged with the Equal Employment Opportunity 

Commission in 2015 included a charge of retaliation.36 Research further shows that employees are less 

likely to report bad behavior in their organization if they believe the grievance system doesn’t work; this, 

in turn, leads managers to mistakenly conclude that their firm doesn’t have a problem. Further, grievance 

systems may convince managers that company policies will guarantee fairness, allowing bias to creep into 

their decisions.37

Many of the failing diversity and inclusion initiatives favored in private industry have also been 

implemented in the IC. Data collected for this report affirms these programs’ shortcomings. Persistent 

workplace challenges continue to exist for women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in the IC. 

Unfortunately, the IC’s aggressive efforts to improve diversity and inclusion are not having their intended 

effects. IC leaders should consider replacing existing policies with tactics that have consistently achieved 

positive results. This report suggests some of those alternative solutions in its findings and 

recommendations section.

Moving Forward

Diversity initiatives must be strongly supported by research and implemented carefully. Research studies 

have shown that, too often, leaders implement aggressive, ineffective diversity policies based on face 

validity or “common sense,” rather than empirical research.

38 Not only do these initiatives fail to make 

organizations fairer for underrepresented groups, they alienate a substantial portion of the workforce—

generally, those who have the power to make real change. 

IC leaders should consider taking a multi-pronged approach when making changes to existing diversity 

and inclusion policies. Leaders should continue to raise awareness of barriers in the workplace, as is 

being done with Unconscious Bias Training which presents a non-accusatory explanation of how the 

brain processes information which can result in negative biases. Ideally, this type of training isn’t 

weighed down by negative rhetoric that only serves to activate bias or spark backlash.

39 As discussed in 

subsequent sections, empathy training may be a positive way to encourage managers and employees to be 

conscious of and understand the concerns and frustrations of others. Leaders should also seek to increase 

employees’ exposure to qualified managers and employees of diverse backgrounds. Exposure to 

diversity can positively impact the way people think.40 Leaders can take action to increase exposure by 

providing positive, diverse role models in positions of leadership, by getting involved with employee 

resource groups, implementing formal mentorship programs, and engaging in shadowing programs. 

Finally, leaders should encourage social accountability, rather than forced compliance, as a means of 

mitigating bias and improving diversity and inclusion. Social accountability encourages the use of 

diversity task forces comprised of volunteers and invitees from management and members of 

underrepresented groups. These peer-group task forces investigate barriers and come up with their own 

solutions. Instead of force-feeding policies, management and employees are actively engaged in 

improving their work environment.

41

 36 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement and Litigation Statistics. 

https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/index.cfm. 37 Dobbin and Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail.” 38 Dover, et al., “Diversity Policies Rarely Make Companies Fairer.”

39 Dover, et al., “Diversity Policies Rarely Make Companies Fairer.” 40 Phillips, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.” 41 Dobbin and Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail.”
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Like other successful organizations, each of the 17 elements of the IC can achieve success in diversity and 

inclusion by treating the process as an enterprise change initiative linked to other critical mission 

priorities. Diversity isn’t about counting people, but rather embedding diversity and inclusion into every 

organizational process, creating, in effect, a culture of inclusion42—from talent acquisition, to workforce 

development, to leadership planning. It means engaging the entire workforce and ensuring involvement 

of senior leadership. As Wasserman et al. (2008) noted in regard to the importance of leaders in creating 

an organizational culture of inclusion, “leaders establish a meta-narrative, or story, that supports the 

culture of inclusion....”43 Wasserman et al. (2008) goes on to say that leaders must also listen to the 

story(s) of others who are resistant and engage with the other’s story to understand what is actually 

behind the resistance rather than to simply argue about it. If handled effectively, diversity will be less 

about demographic trends, and more about making the IC a dynamic and agile force capable of meeting 

the national security demands of a more global and interconnected world.

The following charts, Figures 1 through 5, were generated using statistics provided in ODNI’s FY 2015 

Annual Demographic Report on the Hiring and Retention of Minorities, Women, and Persons with 

Disabilities in the United States Intelligence Community.

Figure 1. Five-Year Minority Representation Trends (FY 2011 to FY 2015)

 42 Shore, et al., “Inclusion and Diversity in Work Groups”. 43 Wasserman, I. et al., “Leadership Challenges in Fostering a Culture of Inclusion”.

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Workforce Hiring Share of Attrition

Five-Year Minority Representation Trends 

(FY 2011 to FY 2015)

FY 2011

FY 2012

FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015
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Figure 2. Five-Year Female Representation Trends (FY 2011 to FY 2015)

Figure 3. Five-Year Persons with Disabilities Representation Trends (FY 2011 to FY 2015)

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Workforce Hiring Share of Attrition

Five-Year Female Representation Trends 

(FY 2011 to FY 2015)

FY 2011

FY 2012

FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Workforce Hiring Share of Attrition

Five-Year Persons with Disabilities 

Representation Trends 

(FY 2011 to FY 2015)

FY 2011

FY 2012

FY 2013

FY 2014

FY 2015
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For purposes of visual clarity, the following two charts have adjusted the y-axis to a scale of 0-20% rather 

than 0-100%.

Figure 4. Minority Representation among Managers by Pay Grade Group (FY 2015)

Figure 5. Female Representation among Managers by Pay Grade Group (FY 2015)

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

18.0%

20.0%

GS/GG 13-15 Senior Pay

Levels

All Pay Levels

Minority Representation among Managers by 

Pay Grade Group (FY 2015)

Non-Minority Managers

Minority Managers

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

18.0%

20.0%

GS/GG 13-15 Senior Pay Levels All Pay Levels

Female Representation among Managers by Pay 

Grade Group (FY 2015)

Male Managers

Female Managers
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This section provides an overview of the methodology that was developed to structure and focus the 

project’s data collection and analysis. See Appendix B for additional detailed information on the project 

methodology.

Scope of Report

The core question initially in the study design was: “What are the barriers to improving recruitment, 

advancement and retention among underrepresented groups within the Intelligence Community?” This 

became refined to look beyond the statistical metrics comparing demographic groups, and to examine the 

causes or issues impacting diversity and inclusion and how different demographic groups within the 

workplace perceive these issues. As Figure 6 below shows, the methodology for answering this question 

envisioned a three-phase approach, beginning with a focused analysis of the diversity and inclusion 

concerns within ODNI, then expanding to the six largest intelligence agencies (“Six Agencies”), and 

ultimately, to the extent possible, analyzing what workforce challenges exist at the remaining 10 IC 

elements. Although this study presents quantitative and qualitative results from various modes of data 

throughout the report, the findings and recommendations are based on a synthesis of results from all the 

data modes. Thus, information gathered about individual IC elements was used as representative 

examples of certain practices or results relevant to the discussion, and the findings treat the IC as a 

single unit of analysis.

Intelligence Community Agencies and Elements 

Included in this Study

Phase I Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)

Phase II

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Security Branch (FBI)

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)

National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

National Security Agency (NSA)

Phase III

Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Intelligence and 

Counterintelligence

Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Intelligence and 

Analysis

Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR)

Department of Treasury (UST), Office of Intelligence and Analysis

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Office of National Security

U.S. Air Force (USAF)

U.S. Army (USA)

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)

U.S. Marine Corps (USMC)

U.S. Navy (USN)

Figure 6. Intelligence Community Agencies and Elements Included in this Study

METHODOLOGY
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This study ran from August 2015 to August 2016. The research and analysis approach involved with 

this study contained several elements including:

• Collecting and analyzing relevant IC demographic data reports; 

• Conducting a thorough literature review; 

• Identifying key areas for analytic focus; 

• Adapting an organizational model for the study;

• Undertaking narrative data collection through interviews with senior leaders and focus groups 

with employees; 

• Analyzing the resulting information; and 

• Producing findings and recommendations. 

Quantitative data collection. The internal review included IC-wide and agency-specific studies (see 

Appendix G for a full summary of IC and agency-specific studies and reports reviewed). As Figure 7

below shows, this quantitative data analysis involved five years (FY2009 – FY2014) of relevant 

demographic reports, as well as look-ahead strategic Human Capital, EEO, Diversity and Inclusion, and 

Enterprise planning reports. During the course of this study, the IC EEOD released and made available 

its annual composite report of demographics across the IC for FY15. Where applicable, these most 

recent findings have been incorporated and notated accordingly.

Intelligence Community Reports Collected and Analyzed44

MD-715 reports and accompanying data tables, 2009 – 2014

Annual Report on Hiring and Retention of Minority Employees in the Intelligence Community, 

2009 – 2014

Annual Reports on EEO Complaints Processing in the Intelligence Community (EEO 462 

reports), 2009 – 2014

Federal Employment Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP reports), 2009 – 2014

Intelligence Community Climate Survey Reports45

Intelligence Community EEO and Diversity Strategic Plan 2007 – 2012

Intelligence Community EEO and Diversity Enterprise Strategy 2015 – 2020

Intelligence Community Human Capital Vision 2020 and Implementation Plan

Individual Agency or Component Studies on Women, Minorities, or Persons with Disabilities

A National Security Imperative for the IC (DSAPIC 2004 Report)

Individual Agency or Component Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plans (2009-2014)

Implementation Planning Progress Report – FY 2010 Report on Plans to Increase Diversity 

within the IC

Figure 7. Intelligence Community Reports Requested, Collected and Analyzed

Literature review. A comprehensive literature review of relevant articles framed the IC-specific findings 

into appropriate context in relation to other external agencies and organizations. The literature review 

focused on recent professional and scholarly analyses of various challenges to workforce diversity and 

workplace inclusion (see Appendix H for a bibliography of sources reviewed). To reflect the rapidly 

evolving understanding of workplace diversity issues experienced just not in the IC but across the federal 

 44 This list is representative of the types of reports requested. Not every IC agency or IC element produced every one of these

reports. For example, some elements are not required to produce FEORP reports.

45 Only 3-5 survey questions related to EEO topics for ODNI were included.
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government and private industry, this literature review was not limited to just the early stages of the 

project. Rather, as new and relevant research became available, it was reviewed and incorporated on an 

on-going basis throughout the course of the project. 

Identification of key themes for analytic focus. Building on these studies and reports, key themes were 

identified for further exploration. These involved:

• Institutional and Structural Programs and Policies – including diversity, advancement and 

recruiting programs; qualitative analysis of programs and resources; 

• Biases, Attitudes and Perceptions – including data collection samplings of volunteers from 

the workforce through focus groups and interviews to identify perceptions, relationships, 

biases, awareness, commitment and culture; and

• Physical Barriers Identification and Recommendations – including issues related to 

reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities.

Development of analytic model. Descriptive models from organizational development were used to 

create an analytic framework for assessing the data collected.46 Organizational factors from two identified 

models most relevant to analyzing workforce diversity were integrated to maximize the analysis of 

available data. As the data analysis progressed, this integrated model was further adapted to highlight six 

major areas where the IC can take an integrated approach to improving the promotion and retention of a

diverse workforce. These variables include: Leadership, Organizational Culture/Work Environment, 

Recruitment and Selection, Advancement, Work/Life Integration, and Persons with Disabilities.

Qualitative data collection activities. Other sources47 were then used to collect qualitative, narrative, 

anecdotal information and individual insights on workplace diversity. The most extensive of these 

sources were focus groups with employees and interviews with key senior leaders. In summary, these 

qualitative data collection activities included the following:

Notifications to agency leaders. Through close coordination with the IC Diversity Council, notification 

letters were sent out to EEO and Diversity leaders in all IC elements. Leaders were asked for their support 

and contributions to the report in several ways. They were invited to participate in interviews, and to 

recommend other senior leaders within their IC element to participate in interviews. Leaders were also 

asked to notify their workforce of the opportunity to participate in focus groups. (See Appendix E for the 

notification letter sent to agency leaders.) Feedback was sought to encourage an open dialogue between 

leaders and the project team.

Notifications to the workforce. Once Leaders within each IC agency or element were notified, they were 

asked to distribute a separate notification to their workforce, describing the project and encouraging 

participation in the focus groups. A total of 442 volunteers came forward across IC elements to 

participate in this study.

48 Of this total, 7% were ODNI volunteers for participation in the ODNI-specific 

Phase I portion of the project. The majority of volunteers, 83%, were employees from the Big Six 

Intelligence agencies, while an additional 10% volunteered to participate from the other IC elements. 

Figure 8 shows the breakdown of total volunteers across IC agencies and elements.

 46 Weisbord’s “Six Box Model” was adapted to examine the data from a larger systems perspective, along with McKinsey’s 

“Seven S Model,” a value-based management model that describes how to holistically and effectively define large organizations. 

See Appendix B for a more detailed description of the adaptation process of these models. 47 Data collection relied heavily on the IC elements’ points of contact, who were managers designated by each element to 

facilitate the study’s data collection within that element.

48 In Phase III, DHS, US Navy and US Air Force were the only IC elements to provide volunteers for focus groups.
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Figure 8. Total Volunteers across IC Agencies and Elements

Senior interviews. A total of 39 senior leaders from all participating IC agencies and elements were 

interviewed, to include Agency leadership, Human Capital (HC) Directors, and EEOD Directors49. A 

semi-structured interview questioning format was used, based on the research topic areas (see Appendix F 

for a list of the questions used). The open-ended nature of the questions defined the topic under 

investigation, but also provided opportunities for both interviewer and interviewee to discuss some topics 

in greater detail. The questions were useful for collecting attitudinal information in a manner that was 

well suited for this type of exploratory research.

Of the total interviewees, the Phase I ODNI-specific interviews comprised 23%; Phase II Big Six 

Agencies comprised 49%; and Phase III Other IC elements comprised 29%. Of the total interviewees, 

41% were male, and 59% were female, and 8% of interviewees self-identified with a disability. Figure 9

illustrates the demographic break down of the interviewees by self-identified minority group. 

 49 Some interviewees, though not seniors, held key internal leadership positions in ERGs, or had specific experience relevant to 

diversity or disability issues.

7%

83%

10%

Total Volunteers Across IC Agencies and Elements

ODNI only Big Six Agencies Other IC elements
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Figure 9. Interviewees by Self-Identified Minority Group

Attendance at Employee Resource Group (ERG) meetings. To gain further insight into specific 

demographic groups, e.g., Hispanics, the study team attended ERG meetings and held informal discussions 

with small groups of employees. These sessions provided additional insight into some of the collective 

issues faced by and shared among particular segments of the workforce.

Focus groups. A key element in the data collection approach, over 100 employees participated in focus 

groups averaging eight participants each to provide valuable workplace insights. The focus group model 

was utilized to encourage group interaction, dialogue, and debate among participants. Each focus group 

was conducted at an off-site location and steps were taken to ensure anonymity. Participants were divided 

into focus groups based on grade level: GS12 and below or GS13 to GS15. Efforts were made to ensure 

that employees participating in the focus groups reflected the makeup of various demographic groups that 

were the focus of this study. Of the total volunteers for this project, approximately one-fourth were able to 

attend the focus groups. 

Of the total focus group participants, 31% were male, and 69% were female. A relatively substantial 

proportion, 29%, of focus group participants self-identified with a disability. Figure 10 illustrates the 

demographic break down of the focus group participants by self-identified minority group. Due to limited 

volunteerism at the GS12 and below level, only 15% of focus group participants were GS12 and below; 

85% were at the GS13 to 15 level.

18%

44%

28%

3%

8%

Interviewees by Self-Identified Minority Group

Hispanic Caucasian African-American American Indian Asian
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Figure 10. Focus Group Participants by Self-Identified Minority Group

Voluntary nature of participation and anonymity. Focus group participation was completely voluntary 

and subject to several factors including day-of-event scheduling conflicts, inclement weather, and having 

sufficient numbers of volunteers at each participating IC element. In addition, it became apparent that a 

fear of adverse repercussions from participating in this study was very real for many volunteers. 

Anonymity of participants was essential given the sensitivity of the subject. In all instances, responses 

were categorized or “coded” to remove details that might point to a specific individual. In this way, no 

personally identifiable information was captured on individuals who participated in the study, consistent 

with the project’s commitment to ensuring the individual identity of employee participants would not be 

disclosed. When quotes were believed to be potentially identifiable, they were approved by the speaker, 

modified by the speaker, or listed as non-attributed. Some quotes were edited for clarity. In addition, the 

study also protected the confidentiality of individuals’ participation, subject to the limitations of some 

elements’ requirement to involve HR or EEO administrators and/or supervisors in participant notification 

and selection. 

Self-selected nature of participation. This study was not compulsory, and thus, participation was 

inherently self-selected. That is, input was only obtained from individuals who chose to provide it. 

Further, it is a tenet of human behavior research that self-selected participants may not give representative 

results.

50 At the very least, in studies involving self-selection, it is likely that only individuals with more 

emphatic opinions participate if everyone is given an equal chance to participate. In addition, individuals 

with emphatic opinions of a certain nature – either particularly negative opinions or particularly positive 

opinions – are likely to participate. Respondent self-selection can impact any study; in this study, several 

measures to limit its impact were incorporated such as the inclusion of a broad base of opinions; skillful 

moderation with a well-defined agenda; and the inclusion of a variety of data collection modes. 

 50 Collier, D. et al., "Insights and Pitfalls: Selection Bias in Qualitative Research." World Pol. World Politics 49, No. 01 (1996): 

56-91. doi:10.1353/wp.1996.0023. 

15%

32% 35%

9%

3%

6%

Focus Group Participants by Self-Identified 

Minority Group

Hispanic African-American Caucasian

Asian American Indian Other
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This study reported perceptions of workplace biases and challenges, and did not review or investigate 

each element’s actual workforce practices—such as hiring boards in recruiting or reasonable 

accommodation requests in EEOD offices. Thus this qualitative data collection contains the perceptions 

of the individuals who have experienced these practices first-hand and who participated in the focus 

groups.

Demographic representation in focus groups. Some minority groups were less represented in the focus 

groups despite diligent efforts. This could be attributed to many factors: the desire to hide certain 

personal aspects in the workplace, trust issues, schedule conflicts, lack of ability to attend during work 

hours given job requirements, or a belief that no change would come from it.

51 Indeed, a common 

complaint heard from employees who participated in focus groups was that there had been previous focus 

groups and interviews held, and they had openly participated, but saw no substantial changes from these 

past efforts. Many participants expressed doubt regarding how and why this study would yield any 

different results: “what difference will it make?” This became one of the project’s hurdles: past efforts 

appeared to have a dampening effect on recruitment for participation in this study. 

Participation limitations of IC elements. The intelligence elements of Phase III each perform an 

important role within the IC; however, many consist of a comparatively small number of employees 

relative to the entirety of their workforce. While these elements indicated they wanted to participate in 

this study, many stated they did not have the resources nor the ability to segregate their agencies’ 

demographic data in order to examine the intelligence component separately. For instance, while some 

Phase III elements were able to provide the requested data for their agency’s intelligence component, 

most reported that their aggregate data, such as the MD-715, would not adequately reflect the information 

needed for the purpose of this study since the intelligence component of the workforce data is not separate 

but is blended into that of the entire element’s workforce data.

Likewise, while most Phase III elements were able to identify and provide senior IC managers for 

individual interviews, the small size of these elements further limited their ability to obtain sufficient 

volunteers to participate in focus groups. Of the total focus group participants, the Phase I ODNI-specific 

participants comprised 7%; Phase II Big Six Agencies comprised the majority of participation at 83%; 

and Phase III Other IC elements was only 10%. Thus, many of the Phase III elements were limited in 

their involvement in this study52. This led to a fragmented view of the ten elements that comprised Phase 

III. Given the variance in the data, this phase of analysis had to be handled and reported differently.

Summary of data collection techniques. The combination of these different modes of data collection 

allowed insights to be formulated into the design and impact of the IC’s diversity practices, thus 

increasing confidence in the findings of the study.

 51 These factors are explored further in Appendix B. 52 Several Phase III elements, such as the Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) and the intelligence 

components of the United States Air Force and the United States Navy, among others, have recently conducted their own internal 

barrier analysis studies. This study serves to compliment those efforts and to work in conjunction with the individual IC 

elements’ findings and recommendations.
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Background on IC Workforce Diversity

Despite a ten-year effort to increase diversity, challenges persist and minority groups remain 

underrepresented in ODNI and the greater IC workforce, especially at senior levels (i.e., GS-13 and 

above). To examine this, a variety of IC-wide and agency-specific reports were reviewed, which provided 

necessary metrics to analyze workforce diversity trends.

53 This review examined how key indicators of 

IC workforce diversity have evolved over the past five years based on annual ODNI reporting from 

FY2010 to FY2014 for the IC. With the release of the Annual Demographic Report on the Hiring and 

Retention of Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities in the United States Intelligence 

Community Fiscal Year 2015 before the conclusion of data analysis, FY2015 data was also included for 

comparison.

Current Diversity Environment

Quantitative data collection (i.e., MD-715s, FEORP reports, etc.) was coordinated through ODNI’s Office 

of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity (IC EEOD) and the various EEO and Human Capital

offices at the individual IC agencies and elements. The following observations54 from the gathered 

reports provide useful context for understanding the diversity of the IC workforce and how the workforce 

profile has changed between 2010 and 2015:

• IC Minority Averages: 2011 – 23.2% | 2012 – 23.5% | 2013 – 23.7% | 2014 – 24.0% | 

2015 – 24.6% 

o Minority representation in the IC overall continues to trend positively. Minority 

representation in FY2011 was 23.2% and increased to 24.6% in FY2015. Minority males 

at ODNI accounted for 7.8% in FY2010, but they increased their representation to 10.3% 

in FY2014. Of the Big Six IC agencies, NGA experienced the largest gain over the fouryear period, progressing from their FY2011 number of 22.1% to 24.1% in FY2014 – a 

two percentage-point gain – almost achieving parity with IC averages by FY2014. FBI, 

DIA and NSA achieved similar percentage point gains with 1.6%, 1.8% and 1.4% 

respectively over the same time period. FBI hovered close to IC averages of minority 

representation 23.8% in FY2011 and a slightly above of 25.4% in FY2014. DIA, 

 53 Race and National Origin Categories: 

Consistent with the Annual Report, this report’s data is defined in accordance with the race and ethnicity reporting requirements 

in the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Management Directive 715 (MD-715) (EEOC MD-715, 

effective 1 October 2003. http://www.eeoc.gov/federal/directives/md715.cfm). Under this directive, employees who selected 

“Hispanic or Latino” as their ethnicity were defined as “Hispanic or Latino,” regardless of race. In addition, starting in FY 2004, 

EEOC data for individuals of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander origin were reported separately from Asians. Also, unless

otherwise noted, Whites refers to non- Hispanic Whites throughout the report. 54 These observations were compiled from: Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Annual Demographic Report: 

Hiring and Retention of Minorities, Women and Persons with Disabilities in the United States Intelligence Community, Fiscal 

Year 2015. ODNI Website. June 2016. https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/FY%202015%20Annual%20Report.pdf, and 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) Report to Congress, Fiscal 

Year 2014. OPM Website. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/diversity-and-inclusion/reports/feorp-2014.pdf.

CURRENT IC DIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT
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however, was well above IC averages of minorities in the work environment and showed 

continued, albeit slight, improvement of their minority percentages of 29.8% in FY2011 

to 31.6% in FY2014. NSA was below IC averages of minorities in the work 

environment, citing 19.4% in FY2011 and progression to 20.8% by FY2014. CIA 

achieved a .9 percentage point increase over the same period, continuing a slight upward 

trend on minority percentages moving from 23.1% in FY2011 to 24% by FY2014, both 

of these figures were on par with the IC percentages of minority representation. NRO 

was similarly above IC averages however, they did experience a slight decrease in their 

minority representation with 26.8% in FY2011 and 26.2% in FY2014.

o IC Minority Representation compared to External Benchmarks. The IC’s minority 

representation of 24.6% is lower than all of the external benchmarks generally used for 

comparisons: Minorities make up 37.5% of the U.S. Population, 35.4% of the Federal 

Workforce, and 31.5% of the Civilian Labor Force.

o Minority Hiring showed increases. In FY2015, overall IC minority representation in 

hiring increased from 23.6% (FY2014) to 24.9%, largely due to a 1.4 percentage point

increase in Hispanic hiring.

o IC Minority Representation compared to Internal Benchmarks. Minorities are also 

represented at less than expected frequencies, with regard to promotions, awards, 

Selected Educational Development Programs, and Joint Duty assignments.

• IC Female Averages: 2011 - 38.6% | 2012 - 38.0% | 2013 - 37.54% | 2014 - 38.5% | 

2015 - 38.5%

o Female representation remained (almost) static. The proportion of women in the IC 

remained just below 40% over the last five years. ODNI’s female employees account for 

about 42% to 43% of the workforce while the male employees account for the other 56% 

to 57%. Three of the Big Six agencies experienced slight gains in female populations. 

The largest gain over the four-year time span was at FBI, which was at 38.5% in FY2011 

and increased 3.3 percentage points to 41.8% in FY2014. Both NRO and NSA also 

experienced small gains – 1.5 percentage point and .1 percentage point, respectively. 

NRO rose from 49.7% in FY2011 to 51.2% in FY2014; and NSA was 40.5% in FY2011 

and 40.6% in FY2014. CIA remained almost static with female percentages trending at 

44.7% in FY2011 and dropping slightly to 44% in FY2014; while DIA showed a slight 

downward trend going from 34.7% in FY2011 to 33.6% in FY2014. 

o IC Female Representation compared to External Benchmarks. The IC’s female 

workforce, at 38.5%, is lower than external population benchmarks such as the U.S. 

population at 49.7%, Federal Workforce at 43.2%, and the Civilian Labor Force at 

45.3%.

o Women are well represented through GS/GG-12 but taper off in the higher grades.

o Female attrition decreased. The share of attrition for women in the IC decreased by 1.7 

percentage points between FY2014 and FY2015.

o IC Female Representation compared to Internal Benchmarks. Females earned above 

their representative percentages in promotions and awards. In FY2015, women earned 
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43.9% of promotions and 46.8% of the honorary awards, a rate above their representation 

in the workforce (38.5%).

• IC Persons with disabilities Averages: 2011 - 5.3% | 2012 - 6.6% | 2013 - 7.0% | 2014 -

7.3% | 2015 -7.9%

o Representation of persons with disabilities increased. Persons with disabilities in the IC 

workforce increased by just over one-half of one percentage point between FY2014 and 

FY2015. Persons with a disability accounted for 1.8% of the ODNI employees in 

FY2010 and 2.2% of ODNI employees in FY2014. Four of the Big Six agencies 

experienced gains in their populations of persons with disabilities – NRO and NGA had 

the largest gains with 1.9 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points respectively. NRO 

moved from 5.5% in FY2011 to 7.4% in FY2014 while NGA was at 6.6% in FY2011 and 

7.9% in FY2014. FBI and DIA also experienced modest gains at 0.4% and 0.1% over the 

same time frame. FBI moved from 3.0% in FY2011 to 3.4% in FY2014 while DIA went 

from 10.9% to 11.0% (the largest percentage of persons with disabilities in the IC) in 

FY2014. CIA and NSA realized minimal losses in their respective populations of 

persons with disabilities. CIA persons with disabilities percentages held relatively stable, 

although well below IC averages, moving from 4.2% in FY2011 to 3.8% in FY2014. 

NSA also experienced a slight downturn, remaining below IC averages for persons with 

disabilities, starting with 6.9% in FY2011 and ending with 6.7% in FY2014.

o IC Persons with disabilities representation compared to external benchmarks. IC 

persons with disabilities workforce, at 7.9%, is lower than the federal workforce at 

8.99%.

o IC Persons with disabilities representation compared to internal benchmarks. The IC 

persons with disabilities attrition rate, 6.9%, was slightly above the IC’s overall attrition 

rate of 6.3%.

The following observations55 provide highlights of current IC initiatives to improve focus on 

diversity inside the IC in 2015:

• CIA, NSA, and USAF adopted diversity and inclusion performance objectives as part of senior 

executive performance evaluations plans. Beginning in FY2016, ODNI and other IC elements

will adopt similar requirements.

• The first “IC Persons with Disabilities Summit” was hosted by CIA at NRO. Through this forum, 

the IC EEOD Council launched three working groups to further educate the IC workforce and 

coordinate best practices for recruiting, retaining, and developing Persons with disabilities.

• DIA became the executive agent of the Intelligence Community Wounded Warrior Internship 

Program (ICWWP), a unique IC-wide initiative that aligns with the Department of Defense 

(DoD) Operation War Fighter Program. ICWWP identifies and places Wounded Warriors (WW) 

in a variety of internships across the IC based on their military skill sets, experience, and 

interests. According to a DIA interviewee, this provides injured, ill, and wounded service 

 55 These observations compiled from ODNI. “2015 Annual Demographic Report.”, and OPM, “2014 FEORP.”
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members with meaningful work experience to assist in their recuperation and transition into the 

workforce through internship opportunities at participating IC agencies.

• IC EEOD hosted a “Diversity Best Practices Exchange Forum” to share ideas with invited 

members from private industry, academia, and senior IC leaders.

• The IC hosted the third “IC Women’s Summit” and the fourth “IC Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, 

Transgender, and Allies Summit.”

• Four items were added to the IC Climate Survey, similar to those found in the Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. As a result, in FY2015 ODNI began 

capturing OPM’s Inclusion Quotient (IQ) across the IC.56 The New IQ refers to inclusive 

intelligence and consists of 20 questions identified through a rigorous factor analysis trial of 

OPM’s Employee Viewpoint Survey questions.57 This new program is built on the idea that 

“individual behaviors, repeated over time, form the habits that create essential building blocks of 

an inclusive environment. These behaviors can be learned, practiced, and developed into habits 

of inclusiveness and subsequently improve the inclusive intelligence of organizational members.”

• The CIA and ODNI co-developed “No FEAR Act” online training to enable IC officers to 

understand their rights and remedies under the antidiscrimination and whistleblower protection 

laws. The PDDNI established reciprocity across the IC to enable all officers to gain credit if they 

completed this course.

• IC Chief Human Capital Office worked to improve data collection to capture RNO, gender, 

FY2015 promotion data, and disability information on participants in the IC Joint Duty program.

• IC EEOD launched disability awareness training to further educate the IC workforce and to share 

best practices. Additional training in working with persons with mental disabilities is being 

developed for roll-out in late 2016 or early 2017.

 56 ODNI. “2015 Annual Demographic Report.” 57 OPM, “2014 FEORP.”
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Introduction 

The following provides a discussion of the major themes and findings from the data collection and 

analysis conducted for this report which covers the Office of the Director of National Intelligence 

(ODNI), the “Big Six” agencies, and the ten IC elements. 

The IC recognizes the importance of diversity and inclusion. From the publication of the 2004 

Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) which stated that the United States must 

enhance its foreign interests through “greater tolerance and respect for religious and cultural diversity” 58, 

to the 2006 establishment of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) IC Equal 

Employment Opportunity and Diversity Office (IC EEOD)59, to the DNI’s most recent statements calling 

diversity “mission critical” at the 2016 Annual Women’s Summit60, it is clear that the IC views diversity 

and inclusion as mission-essential elements. In recent years, the IC has worked to identify and promote 

employment practices designed to attract, retain, and develop a diverse workforce. These efforts are 

detailed extensively in ODNI’s FY2015 Annual Demographic Report on the Hiring and Retention of 

Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities in the U.S. IC, and include such initiatives as providing 

undergraduate training programs for disadvantaged students; developing and strengthening employee 

resource groups; implementing implicit bias training; and more. 

Across the IC, initiatives and activities are strategically aligned through senior advisory bodies such as the 

IC EEOD Council (comprising the EEO and Diversity senior principals of each IC element). The IC 

EEOD Council61 collectively identified diversity, inclusion, and equal employment opportunity goals and 

adopted a joint roadmap for action, the IC EEO and Diversity Enterprise Strategy 2015-2020.

62 The 

Enterprise Strategy establishes a framework to ensure that the IC is best positioned to meet its missioncritical EEO, diversity, and inclusion imperatives. Through the implementation of the Enterprise 

Strategy, the IC is positioned to fully leverage capabilities, resources, and authorities to drive innovation 

and sustainability in five goal areas:

1. Leadership and Accountability;

2. Workplace Planning;

3. Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention;

4. Career Development and Advancement; and

5. Equal Employment Opportunity and Inclusion

 58 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Public Law 108, § 458, U.S. Statutes at Large 118 (2004): 3638-

872, codified at U.S. Code 50 (2004), § 401.2004, pp. 153,169. https://www.nctc.gov/docs/pl108_458.pdf. 59 Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (ODNI). Office of Intelligence Community Equal Employment Opportunity and 

Diversity (IC EEOD). Director’s Statement on Intelligence Community Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity. ODNI 

Website. https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Statement%20on%20Intelligence%20Community%20EEOD.pdf. 60 Murphy, Brian, “IC Leaders Call Diversity ‘Mission Critical’ at Intelligence Community Women’s Summit,” March 31, 2016, 

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/featured-articles/223-featured-articles-2016/1353-2016-ic-women-summit. 61 The IC EEOD Council was established under IC Directive 110, “as a forum for coordination, evaluation, and improving EEOD 

in the IC.”

62 The IC EEO and Diversity Enterprise Strategy aligns with the NIS, the IC Chief Human Capital Office’s Vision 2020, and 

Executive Order 13583, establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal 

Workforce.

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS - INTRODUCTION
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This study highlighted six major areas where the IC can take an integrated approach to the promotion and 

retention of a diverse workforce. In keeping with the goal areas of the Enterprise Strategy, the following 

variables were defined as key to assessing the state of diversity in today’s IC environment. These 

variables include: 

• Leadership 

o Diversity Optics

o Leadership Skills

o EEO/Diversity Leadership Practices

• Organizational Culture/Work Environment

o Workplace Diversity

o Perceptions of “Tokens and Quotas” – Racial and Gender Stereotypes

o Hierarchical Structures

• Recruitment and Selection

o Need for Diversity in Recruiting Sources

o Need for Cultural Sensitivities in Recruiting

• Advancement

o Promotion/Opportunities

o Mentoring

o Key Assignments/Joint Duty Assignments/Career Development 

• Work/Life Integration

o Flexible Work Arrangements

o Paid Family Leave 

• Persons with Disabilities

o Facilities and Assistive Technologies

o The Employment Cycle: Recruitment, Career Development and Advancement

o The Reasonable Accommodation Process

o Self-Reporting of Disabilities

Within these areas, specific associated points narrow discussion to the most relevant topics for the IC as a 

whole. A large array of issues were exposed in this research; however, as many of these issues have been 

thoroughly reported through previous studies, such as in the Annual Demographic Report: Hiring and 

Retention of Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities in the United States Intelligence 

Community, annual FEORP reports of individual IC elements, and the EEO MD-715 reports, those issues 

that elicited particularly strong responses from participants or were most prevalent within the targeted 

demographics across the IC are highlighted in this discussion. 

Two primary themes underscore many of the findings of this report—the lack of diversity in leadership 

ranks and the lack of transparency in employment practices—which contribute to the perceptions of 

different treatment and experiences commonly held by employees of minority demographic groups in the 

IC. Following is a discussion of each of the key findings and recommendations, outlined according to the 

six key variables identified for this study.
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“Leadership” is the role of the organization’s 

leaders and managers in pursuing excellence. 

In the context of workplace diversity and 

inclusion, leaders must set examples of fair 

and equitable behavior, ensure their 

employees comply with EEOD laws and IC 

directives and guidelines, and hold 

themselves and others accountable for 

fostering a workplace atmosphere of 

inclusiveness and respect. IC leaders can 

send a powerful message by making a 

genuine commitment to diversity and 

inclusion.

Successful diversity and inclusion programs 

require strong leadership, as leadership 

ultimately sets the tone for an organization.63 Because leadership and management “are necessarily 

linked, and complementary”64, strong leadership must come not only from an organization’s most senior 

leaders, but also its mid-level managers, who often serve as the organization’s backbone.65 For many 

employees, these mid-level managers are the first-hand example of leadership’s directives, becoming “the 

voice” of the organization’s workplace initiatives. They are a high-risk group for diversity and inclusion 

problems, because they often have significant control over recruiting, hiring, promotion and advancement 

decisions. The difficulty, according to Harvard Business School professor of sociology Frank Dobbin, is 

that singling them out for special diversity training or programs implies that they are the worst culprits. 

Managers tend to resent that implication and resist the message.66

Senior interviewees and focus group participants consistently expressed that mid-level managers do not 

provide the kind of leadership necessary to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Some 

attributed this to senior leaders being unsuccessful in ensuring that their subordinate managers follow 

through on agency diversity efforts. Others described a lack of basic leadership skills at the middle 

management level. Still others pointed to EEOD’s standardized diversity training and perceived 

ineffective grievance and complaint processes as contributing factors.

67 Almost all acknowledged a lack 

 63 Groysberg, B. and K. Connolly, “Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work,” Harvard Business Review,

https://hbr.org/2013/09/great-leaders-who-make-the-mix-work: “Nearly half the CEOs [interviewed for this article] said their 

most important role was to set the tone for the organization’s culture by demonstrating a commitment to inclusion.” 64 Groysberg and Connolly, “Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work.” 65 Brescoll, V. “What Do Leaders Need to Understand about Diversity?” Yale Insights, January 1, 2011. 

http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-do-leaders-need-understand-about-diversity. Brescoll quotes David Thomas, Professor 

of Business Administration at Harvard Business School: “We often see the people at the very top saying all the right things 

relative to diversity, but their middle management, who really run the organization and create the experience of people who work 

there, don’t understand and don’t feel accountable for diversity and inclusion.”

66 Dobbin and Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail.” 67 Grievance processes are intended to provide employees with a system through which to challenge employment decisions. But 

instead of changing the negative behaviors or addressing the discriminatory complaint, many times managers confront the 

grievance report with ridicule, demotion, or retaliation. Once employees see that the grievance process isn’t working, they may 

become less likely to speak up.

1. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS – LEADERSHIP

“Leadership is not necessarily found in the Agency's leaders.” 

– African-American Male, DIA

“[Middle managers] are not dealing with [diversity] issues . . . 

. They’re not showing the courage to step up and take care of 

business.” – African-American Female, FBI

“If managers are not doing their job, that’s simple 

accountability. Not everyone is meant to be a manager.” –

Hispanic Female, NSA
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of diverse representation in management and senior leadership as a potential hindrance to the 

advancement of underrepresented groups. 

Based on the data collected, analysis of agency leadership in the context of workplace diversity and 

inclusion is broken down into three sub categories: diversity optics, leadership skills, and EEOD 

programs and policies. As discussed in the following sections, each of these subcategories is crucial to 

fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment in the IC. Following in Figure 11 is a summary table 

of the key leadership findings and recommendations, outlined according to the subcategories identified 

for this study:

Findings Recommendations

1 Leadership Managers and supervisors fail to provide the leadership 

necessary to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace. Offer quality role models. 

2 Diversity Optics Minority demographic representation in senior 

leadership is lacking.

Provide leadership education, mentorship 

opportunities and shadowing programs at lower 

and mid-levels.

3 Diversity Optics

Seeing someone from minority demographics in senior 

leadership is powerful and inspiring, and demonstrates 

an agency’s commitment to diversity. 

Promote diversity at the top.

4 Diversity Optics Diversity in leadership helps attract a more diverse pool 

of applicants.

Identify a diverse array of aspiring leaders early on 

in their careers and nurture them to be prepared to 

eventually become senior leaders.

5 Diversity Optics

“Token” promotions or appointments only serve to 

confirm negative stereotypes and alienate employees, 

and can compromise the mission.

Avoid "tokenism" in promotions and appointments.

6 Leadership Skills Mid-level managers are viewed as lacking empathy for 

non-majority cultural experiences.

Offer empathy training as part of a comprehensive 

leadership education program.

7 Leadership Skills Mid-level managers often fail to address poor 

performance and workplace problems/inequities.

Invest in leadership training that promotes diversity 

and encourages cooperation. 

8 EEO/Diversity 

Leadership Practices

Diversity training, specifically the unconscious bias 

training, is well-intentioned but not sufficient and fails 

to impact long-lasting behavioral change.

Steer discourse about diversity and inclusion issues 

in a positive way. 

9 EEO/Diversity 

Leadership Practices

Many grievances filed with the EEOD office are 

viewed as being ignored, or lead to retaliation from 

supervisors or co-workers.

Take steps to discourage retaliation and ensure, 

when possible, that the grievance process remains 

anonymous.

10 EEO/Diversity 

Leadership Practices

There is perception of widespread inconsistencies in 

how EEOD complaints are handled, and a lack of 

transparency throughout the grievance process.

Increase transparency and address perceived 

inconsistencies in the EEOD grievance process. 

Leadership

Figure 11. Leadership Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

Diversity Optics

A compelling question posed to focus group participants was, “what would it mean to you to see a 

woman, minority, or person with a disability in a senior leadership position?” Participants responded that 

seeing someone from their demographic in senior leadership is not only powerful and inspiring, it 

demonstrates an agency’s commitment to diversity. Some argued that diverse leaders ultimately make the 

workplace a better, more encouraging place for minority demographics. For example, a minority male 

senior interviewee noted that the male/female ratio at NRO is pretty good (an assertion confirmed by the 
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statistics found in the IC Annual Demographic Report and to be discussed in this report’s section on 

Workplace Composition), and pointed out the fact that the DNRO is a female. 

Relevant literature supports assertions that diversity in senior leadership can improve diversity throughout 

an organization. According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, diverse leaders benefit their 

organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts 

by bringing to the position their own 

experiences and understanding of what it is 

to be an outsider.68 The self-awareness, 

insight, and empathy that diverse leaders 

have gained from their own personal 

experiences often inform their priorities and 

shape their attitudes toward diversity and 

inclusion.

Intelligence community statistics confirm 

senior interviewee and focus group 

participant’s observations that minority 

demographic representation in senior 

leadership is lacking. According to ODNI’s 

FY2015 Annual Report concerning the hiring 

and retention of minorities, women, and 

persons with disabilities in the IC, minorities and women are underrepresented among managers in all pay 

grades.69 When comparing minority and non-minority groups to total managers, 78.6% of managers are 

non-minorities and 20.8% are minorities (compared to 24.6% of the IC in general). The disparity grows 

larger at higher levels of leadership. This trend is similar for women in the IC. Females represent 38.5% 

of the IC workforce, and 34% of all manager positions. Most of the IC’s managers are GS-13 to GS-15, 

but twice as many men are managers in those grades as compared to women (11.6% to 6%).70

Given these numbers, there is room for the IC to improve diversity in senior leadership. However, 

participants strongly cautioned against “token” promotions or appointments that only serve to provide 

diversity “window dressing.” Most agreed that while it is desirable to see leaders from diverse 

demographic backgrounds, agencies should not put someone in place simply because of their minority or 

demographic status. In fact, placing someone without the requisite skills and experience into a position of 

power might at best only serve to confirm negative stereotypes and alienate employees, and at worst 

prove dangerous if it compromises the mission. Instead, agencies should be smarter about identifying 

aspiring leaders early on in their careers and nurturing those individuals in an effort to prepare them to 

eventually become senior leaders in the agency.

 68 Groysberg and Connolly, “Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work.” 69 Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Annual Demographic Report: Hiring and Retention of Minorities, 

Women and Persons with Disabilities in the United States Intelligence Community, Fiscal Year 2015. ODNI Website. June 2016. 

https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/FY%202015%20Annual%20Report.pdf. 70 ODNI, 2015 Annual Demographic Report.

“When I go to Headquarters, and I see another minority – a 

black male – I want to hug him.” – African-American Male, 

NRO

“To reduce disparities with diversity in leadership, you must 

make aspiring leaders known to current senior leadership.” –

Senior African-American Female Interviewee, FBI

“For me, having a woman lead is not an aspiration or 

something that needs to be done. It’s more that I want 

someone to lead who CAN lead. So when someone is chosen 

as a leader and is chosen just because she’s a woman, I find 

that . . . insulting.” – Caucasian Female, NGA
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Recommendations and Best Practices: 

Diversity Optics

a. Offer quality role models. Diversity at the top promotes diversity throughout the rest of the 

agency. Not only does diversity in senior leadership signal an agency’s overall commitment to 

diversity, it provides diverse emerging leaders with role models they can identify with.

Moreover, diversity in leadership can help attract a more diverse pool of applicants. However, 

agencies must avoid the appearance of “tokenism”; placing someone in a position because of their 

classification and not their ability can potentially set back the agency’s diversity and inclusion 

efforts.71

b. Provide leadership education and mentorship at lower levels. Agencies can ensure a diverse 

pipeline of potential leaders by identifying and nurturing talent at the agency’s lower levels, 

which tend to be more diverse. Involved and engaged leadership is the key. As one DIA 

interviewee noted, “If you are in a leadership position, you should lead and be a mentor. You 

don’t step on people to get where you want to go.” Agencies need to make a sincere effort to 

establish a process for identifying talented and diverse potential leaders early, then investing in 

their future through aggressive training and an appropriate style of mentorship. One important 

step would be to improve or expand formal mentorship programs, which can substantially 

increase diversity in management. Private industry research indicates that on average, such 

programs increase representation of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American women, 

and Hispanic and Asian-American men, by 9% to 24%.72 This research suggests that volunteer 

mentorship programs tend to be less successful because white male executives generally don’t 

always feel comfortable reaching out informally to young women and minority males. However, 

in a formal mentor program, these same executives are often eager to mentor assigned mentees, 

and women and minorities are usually the first to sign up for mentorship assignments.73 

Leadership Skills

Leadership is the factor that most significantly impacts employee satisfaction, commitment, and 

engagement at work.74 Poor leadership not only influences employee morale in the office, it can 

negatively affect employees’ physical health and even their family life.75 In fact, a recent Partnership for 

Public Service survey of U.S. civil servants from all federal agencies (including the IC) indicates that 

leadership remains the primary barometer of how federal employees feel about their jobs.76 Survey 

participants consistently gave low scores to leadership at all levels of the federal government, from mid-

 71 Groysberg and Connolly, “Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work.” 72 Dobbin and Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail.” 73 Thomas, “Mentoring and Irrationality.” 74 Zenger, J. and J. Folkman. “How Damaging Is a Bad Boss, Exactly?” Harvard Business Review. July 16, 2012. 

https://hbr.org/2012/07/how-damaging-is-a-bad-boss-exa. 75 Walton, A. “The Impact of Bad Bosses.” The Atlantic. February 25, 2012. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/the-impact-of-bad-bosses/253423/. Walton cites a study carried out at the 

Université Francois Rabelais and published in the December 2012 issue of the Journal of Business and Psychology. 76 Partnership for Public Service, “The Big Picture: Government-wide. Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, 2016.” 

http://bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/rankings/governmentwide. See also, Rein, L. "Good News: Federal Worker Morale Has 

Finally Bottomed Out. Bad News: It’s Still Terrible.” Washington Post. December 8, 2015. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/12/08/in-best-places-to-work-survey-low-confidence-in-leaderskeeps-nagging-at-the-government/.
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level managers to senior leaders—“a flashing red light that greater attention must be paid to developing 

leadership skills at all levels.”77 

Data collected for this study seems to support the results of the Partnership’s survey. A number of focus 

group participants expressed dissatisfaction with leadership—especially mid-level management. One key 

critique was that managers lack empathy, which can breed feelings of resentment and encourage a 

divisive work atmosphere. While such a work environment is unhealthy for all, it can be particularly 

harmful to diversity and inclusion efforts by discouraging cooperation and encouraging attrition. Focus 

group participants and interviewees emphasized that managers do not seem to understand the difference 

between managing projects and leading people. Senior interviewees noted that internal climate surveys 

reveal widespread dissatisfaction with managers. Focus group participants highlighted employees who 

were promoted to managerial positions despite lacking the necessary leadership skills and experience to 

do managerial work. One issue that often came up is managers’ avoidance of poor performance

problems. A key task of a manager is to address performance and workplace problems. Ignoring 

problems and refusing to adequately mentor and guide employees has ripple effects on team performance 

and morale, and even employees’ health. In addition, when supervisors neglect to tell employees 

specifically how their work positively contributes to the mission, the employees feel undervalued. 

Some participants were more positive, recalling specific instances when supervisors displayed more 

empathetic, involved leadership, which ultimately led to improvements in workplace diversity and 

inclusion. For example, a Caucasian female from NGA shared that her manager took an interest in her, 

getting to know her strengths and highlighting them in her review. This made her feel more included, 

since her manager made it clear that her work contributions really mattered to the agency. Moreover, an 

Asian male interviewee from NRO described how his managers helped him rise through the ranks by 

teaching him what he needed to learn for advancement. He also had a senior champion/sponsor who took 

the time to get to know him. This individual looked out for him and provided good advice that 

encouraged him to stay in the agency and pursue upper management positions. An African-American

male interviewee from NRO has been similarly impressed by the leadership support he has received—he 

likes being at NRO despite the fact that his commute has doubled as a result. He noted that both the 

DNRO and the PDDNRO both rose through the ranks at NRO. He admires that the DNRO looks for 

opportunities to engage meaningfully with employees, whether it be through meet and greets or ERG 

events. He noted that she often sets aside time to come to such sessions and is “always in listening 

mode.” These interviewees noted that good leadership support had a direct impact on their decision to 

stay with their agency, as well as their ability to move up the ranks. As both NRO interviewees are 

minorities, this ultimately improved diversity in their workplaces. These examples of positive 

supervisor/manager experiences further underscore the importance of constructive, effective, and 

empathic interactions between managers/supervisors and employees. 

Some minority or female individuals could believe that the lack of support from management could 

possibly be internalized as a confirmation of a culturally imposed stereotype that their demographic group

was somehow less talented or capable in an area. This in turn could lead to an actual decrease in 

performance by the employee. This was found to be the case in Stanford University professor of social 

psychology Claude Steele’s work on “stereotype threat”, which he describes as “being in a situation 

where a negative stereotype about a particular group could apply. As soon as that is the case, the 

employee is aware that he or she may be judged in terms of that stereotype or treated in terms of it, or 

might inadvertently do something that would confirm the stereotype. And if the employee cares very 

much about doing well in that situation, the prospect of being treated stereotypically there is going to be 

 77 Partnership for Public Service, “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, 2016.”
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upsetting and disturbing.”78 For the impacted employee, this would potentially impact their performance, 

further impairing mission accomplishment, group cohesion, and a sense of inclusivity. While everyone 

carries some particular stereotype threats, some demographic groups in the workplace are more impacted 

by these stereotype threats than others. Steele explains that women, minorities, and persons with 

disabilities carry stereotype threats often related to workplace competency and intellect issues (i.e., 

communication skills and math skills) which are viewed as more relevant in the workplace.

An African-American female focus group participant from the FBI discussed a recent TDY experience to 

another unit in the FBI where the work environment differed greatly from that of her current unit. She 

asserted that her current unit has managers but not leaders. These managers do not seem to take an 

interest in developing diverse rising leaders and make it difficult for these potential leaders to take 

advantage of opportunities to grow—ultimately sacrificing long-term gains for short-term goals. The 

leadership at the TDY unit, on the other hand, took her on as one of their own. They showed her the 

ropes and told her what she needed to do in order to advance. This participant was impressed with how 

the TDY leadership expressed interest in her personal goals—outside the FBI—and helped her create a 

career plan that allowed her to pursue her personal and professional goals. This participant noted that this 

kind of involved leadership is precisely what diverse employees—particularly women, minorities and, to 

a great extent, millennial employees—are seeking. Her observations are supported by recent research by 

Gallup, which found that millennials “see work and life as closely intertwined. Because of this, 

millennials want to have a different relationship with their manager. They want their manager to care 

about them as an employee and a person.”79

Most complaints concerning senior leadership (or lack thereof) highlighted a lack of the “soft skills” 

commonly associated with empathy. Empathy is “a deep emotional intelligence . . . closely connected to 

cultural competence” that “enables those who possess it to see the world through others’ eyes and 

understand their unique perspectives.”80 According to a recent study conducted by human resources 

consulting company Development Dimensions International, individuals who master listening and 

responding to others make the most successful leaders.81 The study found that listening and responding 

with empathy is “overwhelmingly the one interaction skill that outshines all other skills leaders need to be 

successful.”82 Successful leaders are able to use empathy to understand their employees’ concerns, 

frustrations, and feelings, which is critical to understanding how to diffuse conflict and serve as effective 

mentors and involved leaders. However, research also indicates that empathy may be most lacking 

among the very people who need it most: middle- and senior-level managers.83 Even President Obama 

has spoken of a troubling lack of empathy in this nation: “there’s a lot of talk in this country about the 

federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit—the ability to put ourselves in 

someone else’s shoes; to see the world through those who are different from us.”84 Among other things, 

 78 Steele, Claude. “Stereotype Threat: A Conversation with Claude Steele.” PBS.org. 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/interviews/steele.html (last accessed July 24, 2016).

79 Adkins, A. “What Millennials Want from Work and Life.” Gallup.com Business Journal. May 11, 2016. 

http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/191435/millennials-work-life.aspx. 80 Wilson, E. “Empathy Is Still Lacking in the Leaders Who Need It Most.” Harvard Business Review. September 21, 2015. 

https://hbr.org/2015/09/empathy-is-still-lacking-in-the-leaders-who-need-it-most. 81 “The Science Behind Soft Skills What Really Drives Performance?” Development Dimensions International, Inc. (DDI, Inc.).

http://www.ddiworld.com/DDI/media/trend-research/hirezleadership-findings/hirezleadership_is-empathyboss_finding_ddi.pdf?ext=.pdf.

82 DDI, Inc. “What Really Drives Performance?” 83 Wilson, “Empathy is Still Lacking.” 84 Obama, B. “Special Feature: (transcript) President Obama's Visit to Northwestern. Obama to Graduates: Cultivate Empathy.” 

Northwestern University. June 19, 2006. http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2006/06/barack.html. See also Ross, J. 

“The Most Interesting Line in Obama’s Howard Speech Was about Empathy, Not ‘blackness.’” Washington Post. May 9, 2009. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/05/09/the-most-interesting-line-in-president-obamas-howard-universityspeech-was-about-empathy-not-blackness/.
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researchers attribute a decline in empathy to factors such as increased use of impersonal communication 

methods like email, which eliminate the need for in-person conversations.85 Fortunately, empathy is a 

skill that can be learned and practiced. 

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Leadership Skills

a. Offer empathy training as part of a comprehensive leadership education program designed 

to foster a culture that supports diversity and inclusion. Empathy provides the foundation for 

effective leadership in an increasingly diverse environment and should be part of a more 

comprehensive leadership education program designed to foster a culture that supports 

diversity and inclusion. Leaders need “the cultural competence to pick up on cues in [their] 

surroundings, the intellectual curiosity to explore other people’s reality, the 360-degree 

thinking to see all the way around a situation, [and] the adaptability to accommodate what 

[they] have come to understand.”86 Managers and supervisors need to understand the basics of 

managing and leading people, including basic functions like counseling, mentoring, and 

handling office conflict. Private industry is increasingly turning to empathy training as a 

means of improving leadership, retaining employees, and even guiding design decisions.87 

About 20% of U.S. employers offer empathy training as part of a management training 

program—a number that is expected to double in the next 10 years, given the positive impact 

such training has had on corporate results.88 One consulting company specializing in empathy 

training describes its vision of empathy in the workplace as “understanding of others’ 

experiences leading to action. It’s not a cup of tea and sympathy—it’s about action.”89 The 

company works with corporations to identify strengths and deficits and develop “empathy 

nudges,” which are “small changes that have a sustainable impact.”90

b. Invest in leadership training that celebrates and promotes diversity while also encouraging 

cooperation and positive-sum thinking. Agencies can do this by encouraging leadership to 

better emphasize pride in the organization and its mission, as well as pride in America. It’s 

important to recognize and celebrate all of the things that make us different from each other—

after all, diversity is one of the things that make this country great, and there are empirical 

reasons why agencies should embrace diversity in the workplace. Interacting with people who 

are different makes employees more creative, more diligent, and harder-working.91 Moreover, 

the presence of diversity in the workplace improves innovation by enhancing employees’ 

abilities to handle conflict and differences of opinion.92 However, diversity and inclusion 

efforts and pride in America go hand-in-hand. In order to truly discourage “us vs. them” 

thinking, leadership must get better at promoting a “one team, one fight” mentality. Research 

indicates that race is far less important in how people classify each other when they also share 

 85 Caprino, K. “Is Empathy Dead? How Your Lack of Empathy Damages Your Reputation and Impact as A Leader.” Forbes. 

June 8, 2016. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/06/08/is-empathy-dead-how-your-lack-of-empathy-damages-yourreputation-and-impact-as-a-leader/. 86 Wilson, “Empathy is Still Lacking.” 87 Lublin, J. S. “Companies Try a New Strategy: Empathy Training.” Wall Street Journal. 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-try-a-new-strategy-empathy-1466501403. 88 Lublin, “Companies Try a New Strategy.” 89 Lady Geek Empathy Business. “About Us.” Lady Geek Website. http://theempathybusiness.co.uk/. 90 Lady Geek, “About Us.” 91 Phillips, K. “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” Scientific American, October 1, 2014. 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/. 92 Phillips, K. W., et al. “Is the Pain worth the Gain? The Advantages and Liabilities of Agreeing with Socially Distinct 

Newcomers.” PsycEXTRA Dataset, March 2009. doi:10.1037/e633982013-037.
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some other prominent social characteristic, like membership on a team.93 Leaders need to help 

those they lead to see that above all else, we are all Americans serving the same mission of 

protecting what makes this country great.

Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Leadership Practices

Each agency has an office devoted entirely to Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity (EEOD) 

issues. These offices function to perform the roles of compliance and facilitation of diversity and 

inclusion in the workplace. The compliance component involves a complaint process that is more 

investigatory. It provides workers with a 

process for addressing their complaints and 

providing full relief (see appendix D for an 

overview of the process). The diversity 

component is proactive and oriented toward 

improving existing workforce composition 

through recruitment, retention and 

development practices of diverse 

individuals. The diversity component of 

EEOD offices plays a leadership role in 

designing and implementing innovative EEO 

and diversity programs and diversity best 

practices to increase the overall representation 

of minorities, women, and persons with 

disabilities, and benchmarking model agency 

best practices for Title VII compliance. These 

actions by the diversity component serves to 

also reduce the number of complaints 

ultimately filed by individuals in the 

workplace.94 

The data collected during the course of this 

project largely concerned diversity training 

and the EEO complaint process. Senior 

interviewees tended to be more positive about 

the EEO complaint process than focus group 

participants. For instance, a senior AfricanAmerican male interviewee stated that NRO is 

getting EEO right, crediting transparency and 

EEOD’s close relationship with HR: “we are in lockstep. It is deliberate; it is our mindset. We build 

trust.” Moreover, HR and EEO employees are closely familiar with and understand each other’s 

functions. This enables EEO to implement policies that actually make sense.

 93 Kurzban, R., et al., “Can Race Be Erased? Coalitional Computation and Social Categorization.” Proceedings of the National 

Academy of Sciences 98, no. 26 (2001): 15387-5392. 94 “United States Equal Opportunity Commission. Overview of Federal Sector EEO Complaint Process. 

https://www.eeoc.gov/federal/fed_employees/complaint_overview.cfm. A complaint is an allegation of illegal discrimination that 

is handled through an administrative procedure. A complaint may result when an employee believes he or she has been unfairly 

treated because of race, color, national origin, religion, age, gender sexual orientation or physical/mental disability. The 

allegation itself is not proof that illegal discrimination has taken place. The investigation that follows the acceptance of issues 

from a formal complaint will provide the basis for a determination as to whether or not illegal discrimination has, in fact, 

occurred.

“What's the point of going to EEO? It just falls on deaf 

ears.”—Asian Female, DIA

“My advice? Get a lawyer. I don't recommend going to 

EEO. Nothing gets done unless the agency is looking for 

a reason to get rid of the offender. EEO and IG offices are 

there to protect the agency from lawsuit.”—Caucasian 

Female, DIA

“I have no faith in the Ombudsman or the grievance 

process. —Caucasian Female, NRO

“A colleague (of mine) was put into a nowhere job 

because of filing an EEO claim. She was harassed, sidelined. It took years to resolve.”—African-American 

Female, DIA

“I sent an email to EEOD and asked about [an] issue. 

Someone from EEOD responded and asked for details...

Later that day my supervisor made me come into the 

office. ‘You should not go to EEOD. If you have a 

problem, you should go to your supervisor.’ She was 

yelling. I let her finish, and asked whether she was done. 

Then I told her I reserved the right to do whatever I felt I 

needed to do to resolve the situation. – African-American 

Female, NSA
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Focus group participants, however, were generally far more negative about EEOD and the complaint 

process. Criticism came from across agencies and from all perspectives, which seems to be indicative of 

a strong perception of the existence of widespread inconsistencies in how EEOD complaints are handled, 

as well as a lack of transparency throughout the grievance process. For example, a Caucasian female 

participant from NRO likened the grievance process to a modern-day “witch-hunt,” describing the 

difficulties she encountered when she was accused of being disrespectful to foreign nationals. She 

reported that the charges were eventually found to not be substantiated, but the damage to her team’s 

cohesion was extensive. The experience convinced her that the EEO complaint process as it stands right 

now is not an effective way of dealing with workplace problems. Because the EEO process is so 

complex, legally intricate, and not fully understood by the general IC employee population, the general 

tendency of many employees is to either underestimate or overestimate what EEO capabilities are, or to 

miscalculate the lengthy timetables often required. Consequently, in situations requiring EEO assistance 

or intervention, often people choose to take no action vice trying to navigate through any formal 

processes. See Appendix D for a flow chart further detailing the complexities of the federal EEO 

complaint filing process.

Other focus group participants described similar difficult encounters as a result of the EEO complaint 

process, but for different reasons. These participants are under the impression that the complaint process 

is at best a useless mechanism for reporting workplace grievances, and at worst, a way to get fired or 

removed to a “nowhere job.” Most opined that the complaint process is not anonymous.

95 Multiple 

participants reported filing complaints with the EEOD office, only to be retaliated against by supervisors

or co-workers. A disabled African-American female from the CIA described the backlash she 

encountered from her supervisors when a medical issue prompted her to start the Reasonable 

Accommodation process with EEOD. An African-American male from DIA talked about two of his 

colleagues who were fired after filing EEO complaints that were ultimately substantiated. This 

perception of rampant retaliation is bolstered by official EEOC statistics, which reveal that 45% of 

complaints lodged with the EEOC in 2015 included a charge of retaliation.96

Another common criticism was that EEO complaints fall on deaf ears. An African-American female from 

the FBI voiced concern that management doesn’t properly address the numerous cases each year that are 

ultimately unsubstantiated. This participant suggested that agencies should still take these cases seriously 

because they involve individuals who were obviously frustrated enough to file an EEO complaint —

“leadership should be asking, ‘why?’” 

Focus group participants and senior interviewees were generally positive about EEOD training. Several 

participants specifically praised the unconscious bias training, but expressed disappointment that it was 

not required of everyone and not all leaders had taken the training. Other participants voiced concern that 

diversity training and the EEOD complaint process having an effect of producing overly sensitive, 

distrustful reactions that are often unintentional. These participants described an atmosphere where

employees of different demographic groups tread carefully around each other for fear of becoming the 

next EEOD complaint. Participants also attribute management’s hands-off approach to this perceived 

 95 The EEOC does not guarantee anonymity in the formal complaint process. From the EEOC website: “In practice, it may be 

difficult to hide the identity of the person who believes they have been the victim of discrimination during the investigation, even 

though a name is never released, because of the circumstances of the charge”. 

https://www.eeoc.gov/employees/confidentiality.cfm. 96 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement and Litigation Statistics. 

https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/index.cfm.
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hypersensitivity—managers may be fearful of ‘getting involved’. The result is a negative and divisive 

atmosphere with little room for collaboration and interpersonal relationships.97

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Leadership Practices

a. Steer discourse about diversity and inclusion issues in a positive way. Often, the hard part of 

leadership is managing expectations. Leaders should emphasize that diversity is a hard but 

worthy challenge—one that will not be successful overnight. Bringing together so many people 

from all walks of life increases the risk of misunderstandings and conflict. Yet, as previously 

discussed, conflict is one of the reasons why diversity makes for more innovative and effective 

teams.98 Leaders should therefore avoid using overly negative rhetoric while conducting 

diversity training and when handling diversity-related conflict and misunderstandings. For 

example, instead of using the term “micro-aggressions,” leaders might instead consider talking 

about misconceptions and mistakes. Taking an overly accusatory tone only leads to resentment, 

fear, and isolation.99 Empathy training could encourage employees to engage in meaningful 

dialogue following a diversity blunder, taking steps to foster a more inclusive workplace and 

utilizing the EEO complaint process for redress of unlawful discrimination.

b. Take steps to discourage retaliation and ensure, when possible, that the complaint process 

remains anonymous. Many participants reported that they suffered harm as a direct result of the 

lack of anonymity in the complaint process.100 A number of these participants reported being 

subjected to retaliatory treatment after it was discovered that they had filed an EEO complaint. 

Participants confirmed that this lack of anonymity and fear of retaliation often lead employees to 

avoid the EEOD complaint process altogether. This, in turn, leads managers to mistakenly 

conclude that their agency doesn’t have a problem and makes it difficult to get them to take 

diversity and inclusion initiatives seriously. Ultimately, agencies need to take steps to ensure that 

employees are not afraid of reporting discrimination.

c. Increase transparency and address perceived inconsistencies in the EEO complaint process. 

Focus group participants suggested that a more transparent approach to EEOD complaints might 

encourage more consistency of application. Agencies are required to provide No Fear Act 

training that covers the rights and remedies regarding discrimination and retaliation to employees, 

however, there seems to be a need for additional explanation beyond the mandatory No Fear Act 

training. Agencies might consider offering additional informal instruction or Q&A sessions on 

how the EEO process works and what rights are protected.

 97 It is important to note that this study did not review the internal processes of agency EEOD offices. The sentiments expressed 

are solely the perceptions of individuals who participated in interviews and focus groups.

98 Phillips, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.” 99 Dover, Tessa, et al., “Diversity Policies Rarely Make Companies Fairer, and They Feel Threatening to White Men,” Harvard 

Business Review, January 4, 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/01/diversity-policies-dont-help-women-or-minorities-and-they-makewhite-men-feel-threatened. 100 The EEOC does not guarantee anonymity in the grievance process. From the EEOC website: “In practice, it may be difficult 

to hide the identity of the person who believes they have been the victim of discrimination during the investigation, even though a 

name is never released, because of the circumstances of the charge”. https://www.eeoc.gov/employees/confidentiality.cfm.
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Organizational culture defines the environment of the day-to-day status of the workforce – its ability to 

promote productivity and adaptability, and its effectiveness in creating environments of inclusiveness.101

An organization’s culture or work environment can have a major effect on whether certain groups of 

employees within the workforce perceive their workplace as inclusive. Organizational culture also defines 

the workplace relationships that form between different groups of employees. These groups can foster and 

promote positive balances between supervisors and employees and result in advancement and retention.102

Or, they can foster environments of exclusivity and elitism that can result in employee frustration and 

attrition.103

Based on the data collected across agencies, analysis of culture in the context of workplace diversity and 

inclusion is broken down into three subcategories: workplace diversity, racial and gender stereotypes, and 

hierarchical structures. As discussed in the following sections, each of these subcategories is crucial to 

fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment in the IC. Following in Figure 12 is a summary table 

of the key Organization Culture/Work Environment findings and recommendations, outlined according to 

the subcategories identified for this study:

 101 Wiener, Y. “Forms of Value Systems: Focus on Organizational Effectiveness and Cultural Change and Maintenance.” 

Academy Management Review, October 1, 1988 vol. 13 no. 4 534-545. 102 Findler, L. et al. “The Challenge of Workforce Management in a Global Society.” Administration in Social Work. Vol. 31, 

Iss. 3, 2007. http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wasw20/31/3. 103 Findler, et al. “The Challenge of Workforce Management.”

Diversity isn’t just about recruiting and retention. It’s about harnessing those 

statistics to achieve the complex mission we have.

DIA Deputy Director Doug Wise, Remarks at 2014 Annual Intelligence Community 

Women’s Summit, October 28, 201443

2. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS –

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE/WORK 
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Findings Recommendations

1 Workplace Diversity There is a perception in the IC of disenfranchisement 

among women, minorities and persons with disabilities. 

Reiterate the roles of diversity and inclusivity as 

integral parts of the IC mission execution. 

2 Workplace Diversity There is a general belief that diversity and inclusion are 

not fully integrated into the IC's daily environment.

Hold leadership and staff accountable for 

behaviors outside the scope of Agency and IC 

Diversity Policies. 

3 Racial & Gender 

Stereotypes

Many employees feel their employment is defined by 

their stereotype (e.g., angry black woman, quiet Asian, 

etc.)

Foster inclusivity in the workplace.

4 Racial & Gender 

Stereotypes

Participant input showed that each demographic has 

cultural sensitivities that can govern their perception 

inside the work environment.

Conduct an element or agency-wide Cultural Audit. 

5 Racial & Gender 

Stereotypes

Stereotypical perceptions of employees can inhibit 

advancement and retention. Ensure leaders model diversity and inclusion.

6 Hierarchical Structures Hierarchical structured environments emphasis "elite" 

groups. Emphasize top talent in all career paths of the IC. 

7 Hierarchical Structures

Perceptions of impenetrable elite groups leave underrepresented minority groups without avenues to advance 

and participate.

Encourage communication and coordination of 

Agency work teams. 

Organizational 

Culture and Work 

Environment

Figure 12. Organizational Culture and Work Environment Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

Workplace Diversity

Within the context of organizational culture and inclusive work environments, many focus group 

participants expressed concerns over “exclusive” groups which exist at their agencies based on preexisting friendships, common backgrounds, and similar interests outside of work. They listed examples of 

groups that went to the same private high school or well-regarded university, and described those who 

served in the military as an exclusive group.

Although informal social groupings are found in most workforces, a legitimate concern may arise for 

those individuals outside of such groups who may feel they are at a disadvantage for being selected for 

promotion or special assignments required for career advancement. Such concern could stem from the 

perception of favoritism toward certain majority groups enabled by an ‘old boy’ network who have 

previously worked together and who tend to draw on individuals from within their demographic group 

rather than from the full range of qualified employees.

When you understand an organization’s culture, then you can act as a catalyst for 

change . . . The only way we’re going to change culture is if people who think 

differently stick it out.

CAPT Heidi Berg, USN, DIA Chief of Intelligence Training, Remarks at 2014 Annual 

Intelligence Community Women’s Summit, October 28, 201444
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Relationships also exist within the workplace—regardless of inclusion or exclusion from exclusive 

groups—that also have an effect on the work environment and employees. Workplace “relationships” can 

be defined in three ways: between individuals, between units or departments that perform different tasks, 

and between the people and the nature and requirements of their jobs. When looking at the IC as a whole, 

the quality of those relationships and their modes of conflict management was also considered. Support 

from published research indicates that efforts to suppress a group identity were positively related to 

perceived discrimination, which predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions. These results suggest 

that minority employees actively manage their outward identities while at work and that these identity 

management strategies have important consequences.104

Within the discussion and definition of relationships, a compelling question that was asked of the 

participants in the focus groups was: “Do you feel that you have to hide an aspect of your personality or 

identity at work?” Many focus group participants affirmed they did have feelings of alienation and felt 

they had to hide aspects of themselves in the workplace: from parental status, to assertiveness, to minority 

group affiliation. Employees who constantly feel that they have to hide aspects of their personalities, 

home lives, or personal affiliations may feel disadvantaged or less engaged compared to what they 

perceive as their main-line counterparts. 

A new report from Deloitte focuses on the issue of hidden aspects or ‘covering,’ in the workplace. 

‘Covering,’ the report explains, was defined by sociologist Erving Goffman as “how individuals with 

known stigmatized identities made a “great effort to keep the stigma from looming large’.” For example, 

President Franklin Roosevelt who made sure he was always seated at a desk when his cabinet came into 

the room to de-emphasize his physical disability, or a female employee who avoids talking about her 

children at work.105 Further, research shows that it’s more widespread than leadership probably imagines. 

A survey conducted for the Deloitte report shows 75% of employees cover up some part of their identity 

at work, and covering is almost universal among traditionally marginalized groups: 94% of blacks and 

80% of women hide aspects of themselves in the workplace. For instance, several female AfricanAmerican focus group participants spoke of being told to “tone it down” by colleagues and supervisors in 

order not to appear to be an “angry black woman.” One male African-American participant described 

how he could “be himself” in the workplace around other African-Americans, but outside of that 

demographic, he felt the need to use “white words.” Certainly, it is universal that everyone must adapt to 

their professional environment. Regardless of gender, race, or disability status, everyone must mind their 

appearance, must dress presentably, and must speak more formally in the workplace than they might in a 

more casual setting. Hiding aspects of one’s personality at work is both common and understandable—

there is an expectation that all employees be reasonably sociable, conscientious, and collaborative 

regardless of whether these traits run 

counter to their nature. But just 

because wearing a work mask is 

commonplace doesn't make it harmless. 

Covering, the report finds, drives 

disengagement. Half of respondents 

said the need to hide aspects of 

themselves affected their sense of the 

opportunities available to them at the 

organization, and that this had “somewhat” to “extremely” affected their sense of commitment to the 

 104 Madera, J., et al., “Bringing Social Identity to Work: The Influence of Manifestation and Suppression on Perceived 

Discrimination, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Intentions.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 2012, Vol 18: 2, 

pp. 165-170. 105 Mutchler, Meghan. “Roosevelt’s Disability an Issue at Memorial.” New York Times, April 10, 1995. 

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/10/us/roosevelt-s-disability-an-issue-at-memorial.html.

“In our professional atmosphere, we can’t just be ourselves. 

We mask ourselves in all these different interactions with 

different people, different staff, different executive levels –

we don't want to hide our true selves, and we certainly don't 

want to be treated differently than someone else who doesn't 

have to hide.” Non-Attributed Female, FBI
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organization.106 Importantly, a trend emerged from the focus groups and interview data indicating that 

this adaptation may be impacting women—particularly minority women—more deeply.

Several women who participated in the focus groups expressed that they felt the need to hide aspects of 

their personalities that were considered too strong, confrontational or authoritative. Within the focus 

groups, a behavioral double-standard between men and women, especially when disagreeing with 

managers, was often highlighted. Women spoke repeatedly about having to ‘tone it down.’

It is worthwhile to note that some employees expressed not feeling comfortable identifying their 

Race/National Origin (RNO) on applicant/EEO self-identification forms because of perceived 

opportunities for discrimination, or because they did not ‘fit the boxes’ defining RNO by the EEOC. 

These factors might be considered for further inquiry.

Hidden disabilities, especially medical and mental health issues, were raised as another key factor of 

personalities that often must be hidden in 

the workplace. The Substance Abuse and 

Mental Health Administration reports in its 

findings from the 2006 Healthstyles survey 

that only 42% of surveyed adults think that 

a person with mental illness can be as 

successful in the workplace as others, and 

nearly a quarter of younger workers 

surveyed (adults between the ages of 18-

24) believe that a person with mental 

illness is dangerous to others.107 This trend 

was reflected in this study. During several senior interviews, it was noted that disabilities within the 

workforce often go unreported. 

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Workplace Diversity

a. Reiterate the roles of diversity and inclusivity as integral parts of the IC mission execution. 

According to John Coleman’s article for Harvard Business Review on the components of 

great corporate culture, the implementation of organizational culture begins with the Values 

or Mission statement to provide purpose and guidance to employees.108 The enunciation of 

this Mission statement is reinforced by the five other components (Values, Practices, People, 

Narrative, and Place) of providing work environments that work to navigate cultures and 

retain star employees. Each IC member agency has and publishes guiding documents which 

include diversity as a core mandate for mission execution. It is important to emphasize 

diversity in these statements and in the workplace on routine bases to keep the ideals of 

diversity awareness and inclusivity in the forefront of everyday practices in the workplace.

 106 Yoshino, K. and Smith, C. “Uncovering Talent: A New Model of Inclusion”, Deloitte University, the Leadership Center for 

Inclusion, December 2013. http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/about-deloitte/us-inclusionuncovering-talent-paper.pdf. 107 United States Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 

(SAMSHA). The Healthstyles Survey, October 2006. SAMSHA Website. https://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA07-

4257/SMA07-4257.pdf. 108 Coleman, John. “Six Components of a Great Corporate Culture.” Harvard Business Review. May 6, 2013. 

https://hbr.org/2013/05/six-components-of-culture.

“We went to the mandatory security briefings [and heard]: 

‘that spy had mental health issues.’ It created fear and guilt 

for those having mental health issues or being affected by 

mental health issues. For years, I lived in fear that I was 

going to lose my clearances. 

Disabled Female
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b. Hold leadership and staff accountable for behaviors outside the scope of Agency and IC 

Diversity Policies. Tom Rausch, a leading corporate culture change consultant and 

leadership coach, recommends in his article on organizational culture, to “Create Behavioral 

Promises” with employees to “create behaviors that employees can easily understand and 

model.109 The key components of these Corporate Behavioral Promises include:

• Holding employees accountable for behavior contradictory to established policies on 

diversity and inclusion;

• Embracing constructive feedback;

• Admitting mistakes and working to fix and learn from them.

Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev take this concept a step further in their research on social 

accountability, discussing the need to instill “social accountability” through individual diversity 

managers or teams of diversity managers serving on diversity task forces or councils in the workplace as a 

means to “work on the causes of race, ethnic and gender inequality” and as a means of promoting 

diversity.110 Through these approaches, diversity managers can: act as a stimulus for encouraging 

employees to make the right diversity-related decisions and think more about their actions in the 

workplace; brainstorm and immediately put into action new ideas for recruitment, training and promotion 

for diversity employees; and can determine where diversity problems exist within the organization.

Perceptions of ‘Tokens’ and ‘Quotas’ – Racial and Gender Stereotypes 

Similar to the organizational concerns 

involved with diversity in the work 

environment, there were concerns 

mentioned during the focus groups 

regarding the workplace perceptions of 

‘token’ employees, ‘quota’ hires and 

stereotypes of particular demographic 

groups. Renewed efforts across the IC to 

increase outreach to diverse potential 

employees has resulted in a backlash of 

comments that imply that any minority, 

female, or disabled employee might only 

have been offered employment or advancement because of their status in one of these categories. 

Labels like ‘token’ or ‘quota’ hires diminish an employee’s qualifications, according to writer Diane 

Chinn in “Effects of Cultural Stereotyping in the Workplace.”111 This stereotyping affects employee 

morale and productivity, leaving impacted employees feeling minimized and more likely to leave the 

organization if they believe that stereotypes, not ability and performance, determine how they are treated. 

Research from Michigan State University shows that the perception of ‘token’ hires in the workplace 

 109 Rausch, T. “7 Best Practices to Transform Organizational Culture: Clients Often Ask for a Best Practices Roadmap to Create a 

Culture of Innovation, Accountability and Ownership.” Leadership Beyond Limits Website, 

http://www.leadershipbeyondlimits.com/7-best-practices-to-transform-organizational-culture/. 110 Dobbin, F. and A. Kalev. “Why Firms need Diversity Managers and Task Forces.” Harvard University. 

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/dobbin/files/why_firms_need_diversity_managers_and_taskforces.pdf?m=1441400077. 111 Chinn, D. “Effects of Cultural Stereotyping in the Workplace.” The Houston Chronicle. 

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-cultural-stereotype-workplace-19193.html.

You’re constantly fighting (the perception that advancement 

was based on diversity quotas) . . . Any time a minority gets 

into a position of leadership there’s always a question of ‘Did 

you get there because of your skill set?’ There are people 

who don’t know you and haven’t seen your whole history, 

and assume, because something goes wrong, that it’s because 

of the color of my skin.” – Non-Attributed Minority Male, 

ODNI
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leads to harmful outcomes including less effective work relationships with colleagues and supervisors, 

increased work tension, decreased job satisfaction, intentions to quit, and job withdrawal.112

In a similar way, gender stereotypes in the workplace can undermine women’s career advancement. 

According to the Catalyst Study “Women Take Care, Men Take Charge: Stereotyping of US Business

Leaders Exposed” “men consider women to be less adept at problem-solving, one of the qualities most 

commonly associated with effective leadership and a hallmark behavior of a CEO.”113 Alarmingly, the 

study states that, for those women who are able to effectively ‘break’ the stereotypes and ascend to 

management or senior leadership levels, others are even more apt to judge her sharply. Because people 

are more likely to believe information that confirms gender-based stereotypes, a female manager’s 

leadership skills are judged more harshly by her colleagues, and she must fight for credibility with the 

employees she supervises. Without proactive steps by the organization to validate and legitimize senior 

female leaders in the workplace, taking steps to eradicate bias, female leaders will continue to be 

undermined and misjudged.

114

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Racial and Gender Stereotypes

a. Foster inclusivity in the workplace. Leadership is the driving force of workplace culture. 

Management sets the behavior standards through their words and actions, along with policies and 

procedures. Design and implement strategies to connect organization horizontally and vertically 

to maximize full employee participation and facilitate cooperation and collaboration and ensure 

constructive conflict resolution.

b. Conduct an Agency-wide Cultural Audit. Private industry is increasingly turning to cultural 

audits as a means of examining leadership’s attitudes toward employees, the nature and effect of 

team work and communication, employee and management responsibility, accountability, trust, 

inclusion and respect. A cultural audit, according to OPM115, gathers feedback from large 

numbers of employees about their perceptions of inclusion and invites suggestions for changes. 

Audit results identify areas for change and ongoing programs for employee awareness.116

Establishing a teamwork approach to cultural inclusivity issues allows employee engagement to 

address stereotype and/or cultural issues that could negatively impact organizational results.

c. Ensure Leaders model diversity and inclusion. Leaders must model diversity and inclusion 

throughout the course of their management duties—not just for a conference or only at staff 

 112 Settles, I., et al. “Race Discrimination in the Workplace.” Michigan State University. M.A. Paludi, C. A. Paludi Jr., & E. 

DeSouza (Eds.), Praeger Handbook on Understanding and Preventing Workplace Discrimination. Westport, CT: Praeger 

Publishers. Released December 2010. https://msu.edu/~yapstevi/Stevie_C._Y._Yap_-

_Michigan_State_University/Preprints_and_Reprints_files/Settles%20Buchanan%20Yap_Racial%20Discrimination%20in%20th

eWorkplace.pdf. 113 Welbourne, T. “Women Take Care, Men Take Charge: Stereotyping of US Business Leaders Exposed” 2005. Catalyst 

Website. 

http://www.catalyst.org/system/files/Women_Take_Care_Men_Take_Charge_Stereotyping_of_U.S._Business_Leaders_Exposed

.pdf. 114 Welbourne, T. “Women Take Care.” 115 Office of Personnel Management Strategic Plan 2014-2018, https://www.opm.gov/about-us/budget-performance/strategicplans/2014-2018-strategic-plan.pdf. 116 Bielby, W. “Minimizing Workplace Gender and Racial Bias.” Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 29, No. 1, Utopian Visions: 

Engaged Sociologies for the 21st Century (Jan 2000), pp. 120-129. 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246832131_Minimizing_Workplace_Gender_and_Racial_Bias.
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meetings. Senior leaders and managers should become a part of the diversity and inclusion 

process.

117 Diversity should not be a separate program; rather, leadership should include 

diversity into all processes and programs of the IC, and leaders should build social accountability 

into the system so that managers take responsibility for creating diverse and inclusive work 

environments.

Hierarchical Structures

IC agencies tend to be hierarchical in nature. The effects of this hierarchical structure are far-reaching 

within the workplace environment. This perception goes beyond the expected positions of authority (i.e., 

Director, Chief of Staff, etc.) or paygrade (DISL, SIS or GS-15) and also considers certain jobs or career 

paths as ‘higher’ on the hierarchical scale. Some employees who participated in the study reported 

perceptions of specific high visibility jobs (e.g., Special Agent, Linguist or Analyst) being designated as 

“more important” or “better” than others, despite pay grade. These jobs are seen as having more 

advantages and opportunities for 

advancement. According to 

approach/inhibition theory, individuals in 

perceived higher roles are more likely to 

speak out of turn, exhibit socially 

inappropriate behaviors and treat others in 

hostile and aggressive ways.118 A 

stratification of the work force becomes 

more evident as time goes on, and beliefs 

become entrenched that certain employee 

categories promote more quickly, have 

more positional authority and are in more 

advantageous job positions. This is 

evidenced by the statistics shown in the 

most-recent ODNI Annual Demographic 

Report (see Current Diversity Environment 

section). Although there are modest gains 

in IC minority populations, the numbers have remained virtually stagnant in the lower quarter 

percentile.119 These numbers are well below the Civilian Labor Force and US population numbers which 

are firmly grounded in the thirtieth percentile.120 Consequently, information does not flow freely, 

priorities become fixated on the immediate supervisor rather than the organization, and productivity is 

stifled.121 In keeping with this model, and according to Equity Theory, employees in the lower ranks feel 

unfairly treated by the group and leadership, reducing their motivation to contribute.122

 117 Thomas, D. “What Do Leaders Need to Understand about Diversity?" Yale Insights. January 01, 2011. 

http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-do-leaders-need-understand-about-diversity. 118 Groysberg and Connolly. “Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work.” 119 ODNI. “Annual Demographic Report: Hiring and Retention of Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities in the 

United States Intelligence Community Fiscal Year 2015.” 

https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/FY%202015%20Annual%20Report.pdf. 120 Bureau of Labor Statistics website. http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_303.htm. 121 Webb-Morgan, M. “When Management Hierarchy Negatively Impacts Your Business.” Business.Com website. April 3, 2013. 

http://www.business.com/management/management-hierarchy-negative-business-impact/. 122 Adams, J. “Inequity in social exchange.” 1965. In Berkowitz, L. (Ed.). Advances in experimental social psychology. Vol. 2 

(pp.267–299). New York: Academic Press. From Science Direct Database at 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065260108601082.

“For language Intelligence Analysts, it's a shame that you won't 

get higher than a GS-12. The (position only goes) up to 12s, 

which is discouraging for someone who has skills and wants to 

go into it, but if they're already a 12, there's no point in going to 

that three-year program because you won't get promoted for 

three years. There are good people that aren't going in that 

program.” -- Caucasian Female, NSA

“Why is it that in [this department], where there are probably 

1,000 employees, considering the demographics, there is only 

one black GS-15? And no black SISs at all. The one male that 

is black started in [this department], but got out. So when I’m 

trying to find somebody that looks like me, where do I go?” –

African-American Male, CIA 
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The IC’s hierarchy may affect how individuals of targeted demographics are treated or perceive how they 

are treated.123 For instance, a senior interviewee shared that often others assumed that he, an AfricanAmerican male, was from a lower rung of the hierarchy until they talked to him and discovered he had 

multiple advanced degrees. He recalled instances when visitors at first looked past him, or paused 

awkwardly from surprise after meeting him. The work Umphress et al. conducted on their Theory of 

Social Dominance found that an individual’s Social Dominance Orientation (i.e., the tendency to hold 

non-egalitarian values and to support hierarchically structured relationships among social groups)124 and a 

hierarchical work environment could have important consequences for their career advancement and 

salary.125

These trends were reflected in this study: participants of interviews and focus groups indicated that 

ODNI, the Big Six Agencies, and the other IC elements do indeed have strong hierarchies. A study on 

how hierarchical workplace structures apply social dominance theory may help explain this. This study 

indicates that individuals have varied degrees of Social Dominance Orientation research found that white 

males in organizations with strong hierarchies welcome other white males to the organization, while 

women, minorities, and persons with disabilities—groups with a presumably lower status in the 

organization—reject others from low-status groups.126 If this finding were to hold true at ODNI and in 

the greater IC, audiences would be hesitant to readily accept and help women, minorities, or persons with 

disabilities to become acculturated into the intelligence community environment. This may be a specific 

underlying cause of many of the difficulties experienced by women, minorities and persons with 

disabilities as they progress through employment in the IC and bolsters the theory that people in general, 

both employees and supervisors, are more comfortable with; more willing to hire and promote; and more 

willing to seek out and accept career guidance and advice from people that fit their own demographic.

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Hierarchical Structure

There are numerous social theories that say that hierarchies in the work environment can result in 

motivation and competition leading to increased productivity. However, the majority agree that in 

‘steeper’ hierarchies – that is, those hierarchical structures with large divides between groups which are 

not necessarily dependent the others for motivation for productivity—that these types of structures have a 

corrupting influence on work environments.127 In fact, for many tasks, a more decentralized, egalitarian 

approach to decision making can lead to better judgments.128 Consequently, in order to have a 

functioning organization in the face of such hierarchical structure, it is important to make sure that all 

demographics (inclusive of women, minorities and persons with disabilities) have avenues to contribute 

to mission success, advancement and participate in leadership roles. Ways to accomplish this include:

a. Emphasize top talent in all avenues of the IC. Both Jay Galbraith’s Star Model Framework of 

Organizational Culture and the Neilson, et al Principles of Organization Design, suggest that 

 123 Adams, J. “Inequity in social exchange.”

Umphress, et al. "When Birds of a Feather Flock Together.”

125 Umphress, E., et al. "When Birds of a Feather Flock Together and When They Do Not: Status Composition, Social 

Dominance Orientation, and Organizational Attractiveness." Journal of Applied Psychology 92, no. 2 (March 2007): 396-409. 

From APA PsycNET Database at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17371087. 126 Umphress, et al. "When Birds of a Feather Flock Together.” 127 Anderson, C. and C. Brown. “The Functions and Dysfunctions of Hierarchy.” Research in Organizational Behavior, 2010, p 

35. University of California, Berkley. From Science Direct Database at 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191308510000031. 128 Larrick, R. and Soll, J. “Intuitions about combining opinions: Misappreciation of the averaging principle.” Management 

Science,” 52, 2006, 111– 127.
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highlighting top performers in all aspects of an organization stresses the importance of all 

organizational areas to the completion of Agency mission.

129 By minimizing stratification of 

career paths (e.g., Agent, Analyst, Linguist, Planner, etc.), each one can be emphasized as having 

value to the overall mission of the organization.

b. Encourage communication and coordination of agency work teams. As steep hierarchies, such 

as in the IC, are shown to reduce trust, increase competition, and impede communication between 

employees on different levels. Facilitation of communication and coordination between intragroup segments of the work force is integral to guard against these outcomes.130 Make leaders 

responsible and accountable for empowering each employee focus area with value and validity to 

the agency’s mission by forming intra-group forums and opportunities to coordinate function with 

other groups. 

 129 Galbraith, J. et al. “Designing Dynamic Organizations,” as illustrated in Embedding Sustainability in Organizational Culture –

Framework and Best Practices, 2013. http://nbs.net/wp-content/uploads/CultureReport_v4_F2.pdf and Neilson, G., et al. “10 

Principles of Organization Design,” Strategy+Business, March 23, 2015. http://www.strategybusiness.com/article/00318?gko=c7329.

130 Anderson, C. and C. Brown. “The Functions and Dysfunctions of Hierarchy.” Research in Organizational Behavior, 2010, p 

35. University of California, Berkley. From Science Direct Database at 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191308510000031.
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In an effort to retain a competitive edge in recruiting, IC recruiting efforts have increasingly become more 

corporate in scope when compared with past recruiting efforts. Today the IC mirrors private corporations 

by seek the most qualified individuals using competitive rates, well-advertised benefits, and the 

possibility of upward mobility. Current IC efforts to attract the brightest talent have combined individual 

efforts among components to attract the sharpest industry skills. The DNI’s 2006 Human Capital 

Strategic Plan outlined efforts to appeal to millennials by direct recruiting approaches before graduation 

in an effort to ease the long wait times for security clearance adjudication.131 This approach greatly 

increased the IC’s ability to reach out to a more diverse candidate pool by strategically targeting specific 

programs at non-traditional schools including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and 

schools with strong Hispanic and Asian student populations.

However, a 2016 study in diversity recruiting efforts co-sponsored by Stanford University and the 

University of Toronto, highlighted that, despite stated efforts at increasing diversity in the workplace, 

minority candidates applying for job openings find their prospects of being hired just as limited as before 

diversity efforts were instituted.132 In fact, an article in Harvard Business Review noted that “most 

diversity programs simply made white workers feel that their employer was now treating minorities fairly, 

whether that was true or not.”133 Interestingly, this study also spoke to the practice of ‘resume whitening,’ 

that is, altering names, backgrounds and language that could lead to conscious or unconscious 

discrimination during the hiring process.134 They noted, however, in workplaces that are more successful 

in instituting ‘real’ diversity initiatives, that ‘resume whitening’ was less prevalent as diversity candidates 

felt more secure in offering factual personal information.

Recruiting is an ongoing strategic intelligence concern to bring new insight and experience into the 

community. Historically, IC agencies could adopt a mentality that good recruits would be hired with 

minimal effort at traditional Intelligence source universities. As the IC moves forward into a new 

administration and into an environment where millennials have an increasing importance in the job 

 131 ODNI. Human Capital Strategic Plan, 2006. p. 17. 

https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Reports%20and%20Pubs/DNIHumanCapitalStrategicPlan18October2006.pdf. 132 Kang, S., et al. “Whitened Résumés: Race and Self-Presentation in the Labor Market.” Administrative Science Quarterly. 

March 17, 2016. http://asq.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/09/0001839216639577. 133Lam, B. “When Resumes Are Made ‘Whiter” to Please Potential Employers.” The Atlantic. March 23, 2016. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/03/white-resume-diversity/475032/. 134 Lam, B. “When Resumes Are Made Whiter.”

Our Intelligence Community is competing with the private sector for the best 

and the brightest of the rising generation... But we simply will not be able to 

attract—and retain—the people we need unless we can show them that they 

have a rewarding future with us.

Diversity Senior Advisory Panel to the Intelligence Community, 2004

3. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS –

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
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market, it is important to reach out to diverse populations proactively. For this newest generation of the 

work force, competitive recruiting incentives go beyond the past generations’ concerns focused on salary 

requirements – millennial recruitment efforts must also provide substantive information on progression, 

growth and intellectual challenges provided in the work environment.135

Based on the data collected across agencies, analysis of recruitment and selection in the context of 

workplace diversity and inclusion is broken down into two subcategories: the need for diversity in 

recruiting sources, and the need for cultural sensitivities in recruiting. Just as recruiting efforts should 

consider the hiring needs of millennials in order to recruit effectively; so, too, should hiring efforts 

consider the intricacies of minority cultural conventions, including social, economic, and psychological 

affiliations needs based on culture and societal norms. As discussed in the following sections, each of 

these subcategories is crucial to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment in the IC. Following 

in Figure 13 is a summary table of the key recruitment and selection findings and recommendations, 

outlined according to the subcategories identified for this study:

Figure 13. Recruitment and Selection Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

 135 Spark, D. “14 ‘Must-Adopt’ Recruiting Techniques for Hiring Millennials.” Insights Website. 

http://insights.dice.com/2012/05/23/hiring-millennials-tips/.

Findings Recommendations

1 Diversity in Recruiting

IC female, minority and disabled employees 

perceive recruiting efforts to be geared only to 

historical "White male" universities which 

perpetuates majority hiring practices.

Effectively communicate successes in diversity 

recruitment internally.

2 Diversity in Recruiting

Recruiting teams have limited commonality with 

perspective applicants at historically Black, Hispanic 

or Asian universities if they are composed of 

predominantly Caucasian team members. Minority 

applicants have to compete against the 'status quo 

bias' when competing for jobs against a 

predominantly white applicant pool. 

Include additional representatives from minority 

groups on recruiting teams, which should also 

facilitate having multiple applicants from 

minority groups included in the applicant pool. 

3 Diversity in Recruiting

IC recruiting teams have difficulty establishing the 

IC as a viable career opportunity if they are only 

present at annual University Hiring/Job Fairs.

Partner with student organizations to attract 

minority candidates.

4 Cultural Sensitivity in 

Recruiting

Certain minority cultures (e.g., Hispanic 

Communities) require understanding of cultural 

sensitivities when considering job opportunities. 

Family plays a large role in job decisions.

Understand the important role of family in 

Hispanic Culture for applicants. 

5 Cultural Sensitivity in 

Recruiting

There is a perception in some Hispanic Recruiting 

areas that the IC has no understanding of Hispanic 

culture or other Hispanic employees -- families want 

to think their family members will not be left 

without cultural support.

Incorporate appropriate employee cultural 

representatives into the recruiting process. 

6 Cultural Sensitivity in 

Recruiting

Some Historically Black, Hispanic, Asian or 

Disabled Universities only receive IC recruiting 

teams sporadically. There is no effort made to build 

trusted relationships advocating the IC as a positive 

career.

Continue efforts to establish trusted relationships 

with diversity-rich schools. 

Recruitment and 

Selection
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Need for Diversity in Recruiting Sources

In the commercial business sector, diversity and inclusion programs are of great importance with social 

justice and parity issues in the work environment. However, in the IC, diversity populations offer a 

crucial benefit of expanding the organization’s diversity of thought. People with diverse backgrounds, 

cultures and experiences offer opportunities to look at national security target sets with different vantage 

points, perspectives and cultural lenses which, in turn, offer advantages for analysis and recommendations 

beyond traditional ‘group-think’ models from homogenous scenarios.136

Throughout the interviews and focus groups, it was generally acknowledged that changing the 

demographic makeup of the workforce is complex and takes time. Two senior interviewees explained that 

a factor restraining diversity expansion within the IC is a recent three-year hiring freeze that followed 

sequestration in 2012. Although government hiring freezes typically lead to lower attrition rates, they 

also lead to fewer new-hire positions and promotions available. With limited positions that can be filled 

externally, fewer real opportunities to increase diversity in hiring have existed. Thus, one senior 

interviewee noted that it may be too early to accurately evaluate the outcomes of the IC’s external 

recruiting efforts, especially those 

directed at targeted diversity recruiting. 

Many focus group participants noted that 

without visible results (e.g., recruiting 

approaches that emphasize outreach to 

diverse groups resulting in a diverse array 

of new hires), women, minorities, and 

persons with disabilities are unconvinced 

by leadership’s professed commitment to 

diversity. In fact, the Diversity Senior 

Advisory Panel noted in 2004 that 

intelligence agencies repeatedly visited 

the same schools for recruiting 

purposes.137 Little is perceived by employees as having changed. Specific hiring trends were frequently 

noted by focus group participants as only approaching ‘traditional’ IC recruiting sources, which are all 

typically within the greater Washington, DC geographic area (George Washington University, Johns 

 136 Boyatzis, R. “Diversity of Thought and Innovation.” Yale Insights. Yale School of Management. 

http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-do-leaders-need-understand-about-diversity. 137 The Diversity Senior Advisory Panel for the Intelligence Community. “Diversity: A National Security Imperative for the 

Intelligence Community.” A Report to the Director of Central Intelligence. November 2004. p. 6.

We’re in competition, for the best and brightest minds, with the skills to propel the GEOINT 

mission . . . we must increase our hiring. Even doubling that number next year would not be 

enough, for what our mission needs and deserves . . . This is not just about bringing in new 

talent. It is about growing and unleashing their potential.

NGA Director Robert Cardillo, Remarks at 2016 GEOINT Symposium

“We’re not doing active recruiting, and we’re not gathering 

the demographics of applicants. So when you say we’re 

underrepresented in this group, we have no idea if it’s 

because we’re making bad hiring choices or because we

don’t have enough people applying. We just don’t have the 

statistics to understand where to go from here.” – Caucasian 

Female, ODNI

“When I was a recruiter . . . there was very little effort to 

recruit any other minority groups besides AfricanAmericans.” – Caucasian Disabled Male, NRO
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Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and American University among others) and 

traditionally composed of majority Caucasian student populations.

Although the IC Centers of Academic Excellence Program138 lists numerous institutions of higher 

learning that cater to diverse student populations (e.g., Howard University, Bowie State University and 

University of Texas El Paso, etc.), there remains a perception that IC recruitment tends to do what has

always been done: “go to Georgetown and George Washington” instead of branching out to universities 

with more diverse populations.139 When questioned why this was the perception, focus group participants 

explained that recruiting successes in diversity (i.e., instances where women, minorities and persons with 

disabilities were selected for key strategic positions, etc.) were not widely communicated. Indeed, this 

communication breakdown was also cited as a frustration among managers and leadership who are 

actively engaged in outreach and other recruiting activities.

Another frustration voiced by focus group participants was the observation of having just one minority 

candidate in certain applicant pools, or of being the only one of a particular minority group represented in 

certain working groups. The problem with diversity hiring initiatives, according to Stefanie Johnson, a 

professor at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, is that hiring teams often 

push to include only one minority in the applicant pool, which gives that person “about the same 

consideration for the job as if he or she weren’t included at all.” Indeed, efforts to include minority 

candidates in applicant pools that are predominantly Caucasian or male can sometimes serve to highlight 

how different that applicant is from the norm. Deviating from the norm can be risky for decision makers, 

as people tend to ostracize those who are different from the majority group. For applicants from 

underrepresented groups, having one’s differences made salient can lead to inferences of incompetence. 

Research shows that in a finalist pool where all other applicants are Caucasian or male, the one minority 

or female candidate is viewed as ‘different’, and different was shown to be equated with ‘less qualified’, 

‘risky’, and even ‘incompetent’. Thus hiring managers unconsciously preferred to hire one of the 

Caucasian or male candidates. However, the results shifted dramatically—more than the statistical odds—

in favor of successful hiring of minorities or females when there were two or more minority or female 

candidates in the finalist pool.140

Extensive discussion about recruiting revealed some tension between short-term, visible progress and 

longer-term solutions. Interviewees and focus group participants who have worked in Human Capital and 

Recruiting said their roles had little insight or working knowledge into the demographic composition of 

the IC’s applicant pool. For years, the IC has lacked a robust applicant tracking system, one that tracks 

gender, race/national origin and other self-identifying demographic information (e.g., veteran status, 

disability, etc.). The new IC Applicant Gateway, implemented as a pilot in October 2015, will better 

enable recruiters and hiring managers to see who is interested in employment in the IC and discover when 

individuals within these groups are hired, drop out or are rejected during the hiring process.

141 Current 

and former HR employees who participated in this project strongly believed that this data is necessary to 

measure and communicate progress in a way that resonates with seniors across the IC. 

 138 DIA. Current IC CAE Programs. 

http://www.dia.mil/Training/ICCentersforAcademicExcellence/CurrentICCAEPrograms.aspx 139 ODNI. Annual Report on Hiring and Retention of Minority Employees in the Intelligence Community FY 2014. pp. 10-11. 140 Johnson, S., et al. “If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, There’s Statistically No Chance She’ll Be Hired.”

Harvard Business Review. April 26, 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/04/if-theres-only-one-woman-in-your-candidate-pool-theresstatistically-no-chance-shell-be-hired. 141 The IC Applicant Gateway provides a portal for IC career information in a new website (IntelligenceCareers.gov) and, 

ultimately, a mechanism to apply to a number of IC agencies through one central location. The new website became operational 

in October 2015 and includes career information for DIA, NGA, NSA and ODNI. The actual capability to apply for vacancies at 

those agencies through the IntelligencCareers.gov site will be available in the fall of 2016.
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Several minority participants noted that recruiting is easier for certain IC elements, such as the FBI, 

especially given Hollywood’s influence. However, the FBI continues to struggle with attracting qualified 

minority applicants. As one senior African-American male interviewee observed, “with little to no 

advertising, the FBI gets approximately 20,000 applications for a (Special Agent) class,” yet “in general 

recruiting, minorities get drowned out by the majority.” Moreover, because this large pool of candidates 

is dominated by white male applicants, when the much smaller pool of candidates who are actually 

qualified is identified, there are naturally more white males than minorities because of the larger original 

applicant pool. Thus the FBI struggles to compete for qualified minority candidates with private sector 

companies, many of which offer higher salaries and typically have a less extensive background 

investigation process.

Across the focus groups, it was noted that there is a perception that the IC tends to hire military officer 

retirees who have experience working among senior leadership in high visibility jobs. This recruiting 

source tends to be comprised mostly of males, and in particular, white males, which adds to diversity 

shortfalls. This may soon be rectified as the Senate recently voted to reinstate a Defense Department 

restriction on military retiree hiring which would require a waiting period of at least 180 days after the 

candidate left military service before they can be considered for a civilian position.142

As seen across industry, successful diversity recruiting for ODNI, the Big Six Agencies, and the greater 

IC is a complex and multi-faceted program, requiring careful year-over-year relationship building at the 

agency level, with specific attention to the facets that make each IC element unique. For instance, the 

FBI might look at non-traditional sources for recruiting that could lend diversity from the general 

population. According to Malik Aziz, the national chairman of the National Black Police Association, 

“the pool of qualified candidates of color is there.”143 Aziz noted that the FBI looks more at candidates 

who aren’t coming from traditional law enforcement, despite the fact that there are over 100,000 black 

police officers in the country. He suggested that “instead of focusing recruitment on individuals who 

have completed college and are looking for specific jobs in the FBI, the FBI might look at the many 

police departments who have shown a great commitment to law enforcement.”144 

An interesting side discussion arose during the focus groups and interviews. The discussion focused on

the issue of economic diversity—that is, recruiting talent from all socio-economic levels. An individual’s 

socio-economic status may impact their grades, limit their extracurricular experiences (such as study 

abroad), or the ability to compete for unpaid internships. All of these have implications for hiring and 

selection. While thought provoking, the idea of socio-economic diversity was outside the scope of this 

study, but may be worth further study.

 142 Rein, L. “Military retirees have a revolving door to civilian Pentagon jobs. The Senate voted to shut it.” The Washington Post, 

June 21, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/06/21/tktk-3/?hpid=hp_local-news_noname%3Ahomepage%2Fstory.

143 Horwitz, S. "As U.S. Pushes Police to Diversify, FBI Struggles to Get Minorities in the Door." Washington Post. March 12, 

2015. From https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/as-us-pushes-police-to-diversify-fbi-struggles-to-getminorities-in-the-door/2015/03/12/01bd5806-c753-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html. 144 Horwitz, "As U.S. Pushes Police to Diversify.”
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Recommendations and Best Practices:

Diversity in Recruiting Sources

a. Effectively communicate successes in diversity recruitment internally. By heightening 

awareness of the successful recruiting efforts to expand diverse talent within the IC, employees of 

minority demographics will see more relevant examples of individuals from targeted 

demographic groups successfully moving into decision making and leadership roles.

b. Include more minority applicants in the candidate finalist pool. According to the Status Quo 

Bias145, simply including a minority candidate in the finalist pool isn’t enough. Research shows 

that in a finalist pool where all other applicants are white men, the one minority candidate is 

viewed as ‘different’, and different was shown to be equated with ‘less qualified’, ‘risky’, and 

even ‘incompetent’. Thus hiring managers unconsciously preferred to hire one of the white male 

candidates. However, the results shifted dramatically - more than the statistical odds - in favor of 

successful hiring of minorities when there were two minority candidates in the finalist pool.146 

The results of this study strongly indicate that decision makers could improve the workforce’s 

diversity – by hiring more diverse candidates – by increasing the number of minority candidates 

in the finalist pools. 

c. Partner with student organizations to attract minority candidates. Partnerships with student 

organizations that promote diversity and inclusion can widen IC applicant pools. National 

diversity organizations such as Hispanic Professional Engineers, National Action Council for 

Minorities in Engineering, etc. can help IC recruiting efforts hone in on specific target sets for 

hiring (e.g., engineers, computer analysts, etc.) while at the same time assist in sponsoring career 

fairs or specific hiring events on campus. One way to consider reaching these students at the 

point in their collegiate levels conducive to recruiting efforts is through social media. 94% of 

corporate recruiters use—or plan to use—social media avenues to reach potential applicants, and 

66.7% of these first time job seekers use social media to look for work.147 As social media use in 

recruiting continues to increase, IC recruiters may be left out of talented applicants if they do not 

adapt to include social media as a recruiting resource.

Need for Cultural Sensitivities in Recruiting

To attract candidates from diverse demographic and minority groups, it is important to be sensitive to 

cultural aspects that may influence employment decisions. One of the key demographics with higher 

attrition rates inside the IC as a whole is the Hispanic community, which will be the focus of this 

discussion. While this is an important variable to understand with all groups, the Hispanic community 

was chosen to focus this discussion principally because they represent one of the key demographics 

underrepresented in the IC due to recruitment problems and high attrition rates. As was emphasized by 

multiple minority employees’ comments across the IC during the focus groups section of data collection 

for this project, recruiting in Hispanic communities requires the establishment of trusted relationships—

not only between the recruiting agency and the potential employee but also with the potential employee’s 

school representatives, and even their family. These relationships cannot be established immediately and 

expected to be successfully formed after one recruiting visit to a historically Hispanic school. IC agencies 

 145 The Status Quo Bias is an emotional bias. The current baseline is taken as a reference point, and any change from that 

baseline is seen as a loss. 

146 Johnson, S., et al. “If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool”. 147 Montini, L. “5 Strategies for Recruiting Millennials.” Inc.5000 Conference Website. http://www.inc.com/lauramontini/infographic/5-hiring-tips-for-warp-speed-recruiting.html.
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and recruiting officials must make a multi-year investment in grooming contacts to act as Hispanic 

recruitment advocates. In the face of more lucrative opportunities – especially for low-density, highdemand qualifications (STEM)—the IC must be viewed as the more trusted option to potential 

candidates. (See Appendix C for more information on Hispanic experiences in the IC work environment).

According to Pew Research, Hispanic 

millennials are much less likely to be 

immigrants and more likely to be English 

proficient. .

148 As the youngest major racial 

group in the United States with a current age 

range between 18 and 33; 47% of US Hispanics 

are under the age of 18. 149 

 They are more 

likely than other racial demographics to have a 

long-lasting impact in the IC into the future. By 

comparison, only 20% of US-born Caucasians 

are younger than 18; and 27% of US AfricanAmericans are under 18.150 Among these 

second and third-generation Americans, college graduation and home ownership rates are expected to 

increase almost 7% and 13%, respectively.151 Recruiting efforts within the IC will need to find ways to 

reach inside these communities as a dedicated diverse recruiting source. Research shows that the key to 

attracting and retaining Hispanic employees is to understand and value the diversity of experiences and 

perspectives within Hispanic culture.152

Language barriers, smaller networking circles, and the perception of being ‘outside’ consideration for key 

positions are all seen as workplace challenges to achieving full potential for positions in the IC. 

According to some Hispanic participants, having an accent presents further obstacles to receiving the 

professional credit, intellectual levels and experience required for placement within the IC. For many 

first generation American Hispanic candidates, English may not be their first language. Although this 

may be seen as an added insight into cultural and language issues inherent with some target sets, in many 

ways, language bias may pose a communication challenge with leadership and peers and the ability to 

interact in the work environment even if they are successful at navigating the hiring process.

Security clearances are another obstacle of working in a cleared facility. Minority populations, 

specifically those who may be Heritage or second-generation applicants, are often subjected to longer 

processing times in the clearance process. The area of “Foreign Influence,” according to the 

“Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Information,” is a 

significant factor when processing security clearance applications.153 Applicants with strong ties through 

family or heritage to other countries present intrinsic language and cultural skills both valuable and 

necessary to the business of intelligence; however, these same employees may feel fenced off from IC 

 148 Patten, E. “The Nation’s Latino Population is Defined by Its Youth.” Pew Research Center, Hispanic Trends. April 20, 2016. 

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/04/20/the-nations-latino-population-is-defined-by-its-youth/. 149 Patten, “The Nation’s Latino Population.” 150 Patten, “The Nation’s Latino Population.” 151 Pew Research Center. "Second-Generation Americans." Pew Research Centers Social Demographic Trends 

Project RSS. February 07, 2013. From http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/02/07/second-generation-americans/. 152 Adecco. “The Emerging Hispanic Workforce.” AdeccoUSA Website 2007.

http://www.adeccousa.com/documents/attachments/HISPANIC_WF_WP.PDF. p. 7. 153 US Government Publishing Office. “Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified 

Information.” July 1, 2012. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title32-vol1/xml/CFR-2012-title32-vol1-part147.xml.

“I don't think that the hiring teams were trained on 

understanding different cultures. Some of the individuals 

I saw in interviews were just spectacular, but (hiring 

authorities) didn't appreciate different cultures and what 

those individuals brought to the table. There were 

biases.” —African-American Male, NRO

“Latinos are not a homogenous group, but we are linked 

or bonded by family, religion, and Spanish language." –

Hispanic male, CIA
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employment because of lengthy adjudication processes and scrutiny necessary for background 

investigation requirements.

Additionally, Hispanic community respondents placed a heavy focus on the value of family. 

Understanding the Hispanic cultural histories, values, and beliefs in the importance of families is integral 

in being successful in outreach, recruitment, and retention. In essence, the recruiting team and the work 

environment become a family, where inherent trust and loyalty issues become equally as important.154

There are similar issues of trust that are especially important to Hispanic communities in a recruiting and 

sensitive compartmented environment. Traditional IC attitudes necessary to protect intelligence 

operations may be viewed with distrust, which may bleed into recruiting and other workplace interactions. 

A number of focus group participants mentioned that recruiting efforts are made at schools with large 

Hispanic populations; however, these efforts are sporadic and inconsistent. When working with the 

Hispanic culture, which places such heavy emphasis on building relationships of trust, recruiting efforts 

should make consistent visits and outreach to these schools annually. Additionally, supervisors and 

managers must have heightened awareness of fostering trust to achieve full potential and retention in this 

community.155

Like other minorities with strong familial ties to other countries, the Hispanic community finds security 

clearance processes especially cumbersome. However, in many minority work populations, especially 

those that are first-generation American or who have global family connections, the Hispanic community 

can be especially daunting. In fact, in some cases, the amount of paperwork involved becomes 

overwhelming to complete for submission and the recruiting opportunity is lost.

Recommendations and Best Practices: 

Cultural Sensitivities

a. Understand the important role of family in Hispanic culture for applicants. If the IC seeks to 

recruit, advance, and retain diversity in appealing to the growing US Hispanic population, it is 

necessary to understand the effect job placement in the IC will have on the family and be

sensitive to the unique cultural aspects and diversity within the Hispanic population.156 For a 

majority of the Hispanic community “family is the number one thing” in making employment 

decisions.157 This sense of family translates to the work environment as well. For retention, it is 

important to give Hispanic employees a sense of belonging to a greater whole. This can be 

affected by the establishment of Hispanic Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to provide 

mentoring and coaching over the course of their careers in the IC.158 ERGs can be used 

effectively within the IC by incorporating regular briefings from, and notes and comments 

regarding ERGs and items of interest at staff meetings, director’s meetings and employee 

gatherings to emphasize the role of cultural sensitivities and awareness as part of the daily routine 

within the IC. Daily emphasis of these issues raises Hispanic employees’ role within 

organizations beyond annual heritage celebrations or annual diversity initiatives. 

 154 Gurchiek, K. “Understand Culture, Value to Reach, Keep Hispanic Workers.” Society for Human Resource Management.

October 30, 2014. https://www.shrm.org/publications/hrnews/pages/culture-values-reach-keep-hispanic-workers-miguelaviles.aspx

155 Rubis, L. “Recruiting, Retaining Hispanics is About Looking Forward.” Society for Human Resource Management. April 29, 

2015. https://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/staffingmanagement/articles/pages/miguel-aviles-2015-talent-managementconference.aspx

156 Gurchiek, K. “Understand Culture.” 157 Gurchiek, K. “Understand Culture.” 158 Rubis, “Recruiting, Retaining Hispanics.”
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b. Incorporate appropriate employee cultural representatives into the recruiting process. ERGs 

are not the only opportunity to bring cultural awareness into the work environment or into the 

recruiting process. By incorporating Hispanic employees (or African-American or Asian, etc.) 

into recruiting events at areas where there are expected applicants from these demographics aids 

in building trust and credible experiential information. According to research conducted by River 

and Rogers-Adkinson in 1997 and by Clutter and Nieto in 2009, understanding of cultural 

elements of the Latino culture can aid in the recruiting in inclusion of Hispanic (Latino) 

applicants and incumbent employees.159 The same would be true for cultural sensitivities 

particular to the African-American or Asian communities.160

c. Continue efforts to establish trusted relationships with diversity-rich schools. Successful

recruiting efforts require consistent on-going attention to the development of trusted relationships 

between IC recruiting teams and the schools and communities in which they are based. Many 

minority cultures remain skeptical of government agencies as employment options. Research 

shows that racial minorities may prefer private sector employment because they consider 

government jobs as limiting career opportunities, or they do not perceive government jobs as 

improving the socioeconomic mobility, or because they might have an inherent distrust of the 

government in general.161 By engaging with specific schools on a regular, on-going basis, IC 

recruiting teams can gain credibility with school officials and prospective candidates. It would 

also allow the IC, in general, and agency recruiting teams, specifically, to establish credible 

relationships with an applicant’s family, if applicable, or his/her ‘greater’ family – that is, the 

“community of trust” (e.g., counselors, faculty, peer groups, etc.) developed at the collegiate 

level. This effort will take commitment on the part of IC Human Capital to maintain a presence 

and to staff recruiting events at these schools with diverse recruiting teams to emphasize the 

importance of diversity in the IC.

 159 Rivera, B. and Adkinson. D. "Culturally Sensitive Interventions: Social Skills Training with Children and Parents 

from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds, Intervention in School and Clinic, 1997." ERIC -

Culturally Sensitive Interventions: Social Skills Training with Children and Parents from Culturally and 

Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds., Intervention in School and Clinic, November 1997, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 75-80. 

http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ555554

160 Rivera and Adkinson “Culturally Sensitive Interventions.” 161 Ng, E. “Is the Government Attracting Minority Employees?” Psychology Today. Sept. 24, 2014. 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/diverse-and-competitive/201409/is-the-government-attracting-minority-employees.
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The current IC diversity environment, as highlighted in the most recent Annual Demographic Report, 

shows a continuing trend in difficulties retaining minority employees in the mid-career levels, which 

generally refers to levels GS-9 through GS-13. Admittedly, there are issues with the advancement in this 

area for all employees. However, it is worth noting that in addition to the difficulties of advancement 

experienced by all employees, underrepresented groups likely experience further potential barriers to 

advancement due to smaller mentor groups, unconscious bias in promotion boards, limited opportunities 

due to physical accommodations, etc. Creating an environment that promotes advancement of targeted 

demographic groups allows for potentially increased retention during this critical career stage. 

Based on the data collected across agencies, analysis of advancement in the context of workplace 

diversity and inclusion is broken down into three subcategories: promotion/opportunities, mentoring, and 

key assignments/joint duty assignments/career development. Each of these subcategories is crucial to 

fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment in the IC. Following in Figure 14 is a summary table 

of the key advancement findings and recommendations, outlined according to the subcategories identified 

for this study:

4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS –

ADVANCEMENT
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Findings Recommendations

1 Promotion / 

Opportunities

Women, minorities and persons with disabilities oftern 

feel that their career advancement/IDPs are not given 

enough effort by management. Because they have 

smaller peer networks and/or mentors who understand 

their specific issues, they often have no direction for 

advancement.

Emphasize the importance of developing Individual 

Development Plans (IDPs) for all employees. 

2 Promotion / 

Opportunities

There is a noted lack of clear guidance, constructive 

feedback and career advancement pathways presented to 

women, minorities and persons with disabilities in the 

IC. Supervisors give insufficient feedback and at times, 

cultural biases are perceived or cultural sensitivities 

inhibit meaningful exchange with supervisors.

Ensure that all new managers/supervisors, rather 

than primarily Senior Leadership, receive proper 

training in providing performance feedback.

3 Mentoring

Mentorship programs are perceived as ineffective, 

particularly when there are too few volunteers of 

diverse backgrounds to act as mentors, and there is no 

guidance on how they are to be implemented.

Re-establish/re-emphasize existing Mentor 

Programs. 

4 Mentoring

There is a noted lack of mentors at the mid-levels which 

is especially felt by women, minorities and persons with 

disabilities who have fewer role models from similar 

backgrounds and smaller peer networks for advocacy.

Make mentoring programs inclusive – not just for 

new or rising employees. 

5 Key Assignments / JDA 

/ Career Development

There is a lack of understanding across the IC on the 

policies governing selection to JDAs or key 

assignments. With smaller peer networks and fewer 

mentors available with similar backgrounds, it is 

difficult for minority demographics to determine which 

assignments are beneficial or available. 

Provide clear definitions, selection policies and 

guidelines on key assignments, Joint Duty 

Assignments and training. 

6 Key Assignments / JDA 

/ Career Development

Employees perceive that selection for key 

assignments/JDAs is often pre-determined for 'favored' 

employees. Caucasian males rely heavily on their 

mentors to prepare and recommend them for these key 

positions; minority demographics don't necessarily have 

the same contacts or preparation.

Apply policy guidelines fairly to the selection 

processes involved with JDA and training 

selections, communicating decisions to workforce in 

a timely manner to avoid perceptions of favoritism 

or secrecy in process. 

7 Key Assignments / JDA 

/ Career Development

Although issues with JDA re-integration are felt by all 

employees, these issues are more keenly felt by women, 

minorities and persons with disabilities as they have 

smaller peer networks to advocate for them or mentors 

to guide them back into the home agency environment.

Implement guidelines of re-integrations following 

the completion of JDAs. 

Advancement

Figure 14. Advancement Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart
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Promotion/Opportunities

The effects of clear career paths on employees 

is unmistakable. Pathways to leadership and 

promotion opportunities are incentivizing and 

motivating. In fact, according to Victor 

Lipman, when employees are presented with 

tangible goals to work toward, they tend to 

affiliate more with the place of work.162 

Likewise, employees tend to be less motivated 

and less focused without clear progression 

plans. For all the ways an employee can be 

motivated to produce and retain employment, 

“career advancement is an especially powerful 

one.”163 Talented people want to do a good 

job; they want to strive to improve; they want 

to get ahead. They want that improvement to 

lead them up a career ladder. Career 

progression is a tangible sign of their hard 

work. Researchers Amabile and Kramer agree with this view, saying that “the power of progress is 

fundamental to human nature.”164

Focus group participants from multiple agencies, including several from DIA, expressed frustration in the 

lack of clear career progression plans and milestones. The career or Individual Development Plan (IDP) is 

intended to provide a tool to assist in career and professional development with the purpose of reaching 

short and long-term career goals. When used correctly, IDPs are seen as outlines of the steps toward 

attaining career milestones and aides in improving current job performance. IDPs are a clear investment 

from leadership in the value of the employee. However, the extent to which IDPs are effectively being 

used by supervisors and management across IC elements varies. The result is that employees often feel a 

lack of oversight or concern for their personal careers. Issues with IDPs seem to been systemic process 

issues that affect all employees within the community; however, it warrants noting that these issues may 

be experienced more often by underrepresented groups than by majority populations of employees, due to 

smaller networks and peer groups and more limited opportunities for mentorship.

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Promotion/Opportunities

a. Emphasize the importance of developing Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for all 

employees. The purpose of IDPs is to give employees feedback and direction to manage their 

careers with a clear knowledge of the ‘next step.’ Specific emphasis should center on the cultural 

sensitivities noted previously mentioned in the Recruiting section of this paper. Certain 

 162 Lipman, V. “The Motivational Value of Clear Career Paths.” October 19, 2013. Forbes Leadership. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2013/10/19/the-motivational-value-of-clear-career-paths/#6d4d5d0b277a 163 Lipman, “The Motivational Value.” 164 Amabile T. and S. Kramer. “To Give Your Employees Meaning, Start with Mission.” Harvard Business Review, December 

19, 2012. https://hbr.org/2012/12/to-give-your-employees-meaning.

“We're hired for our own jobs and to do it right. 

There is no trajectory to move and develop the 

person. We talk rank in person speak, which is 

supposed to be all about personal development, 

there is no person development.” – Asian Female, 

DIA

“You are on your own with your career.” 

Evaluations contain no development comments. 

Perception is ‘Manage your own career.’ That is an 

excuse for management to do nothing.” – Caucasian 

Female, DIA
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demographics (e.g., Hispanic employees) may have cultural difficulties in speaking openly with 

figures of authority.165 Additionally, there should be avenues developed where all employees can 

give candid and anonymous constructive feedback on both the IDP process and its execution. 

Multiple comments from focus group participants noted the perception of retribution when honest 

feedback on an IDP was given. 

Hold leadership responsible for IDP 

development and maintenance for 

all employees.

b. Ensure that all new managers and 

supervisors, rather than primarily 

Senior Leadership, receive proper 

training in providing performance 

feedback. New manager training on 

the effectiveness of endorsed 

techniques of employee 

management will lend value to 

employee efforts and validity to IDPs. According to Lipman in his essay on developing 

employees, organizations spend inordinate amounts of time and money on crafting ‘Senior 

Leadership’ courses and venues, but most of their employees are subject to the management 

techniques of low- or mid-level management.166 These are the managers who will make a 

difference in the workplace perceptions of new and rising employees.

Mentoring

Career development and mentoring are critical for intelligence-employee advancement across the IC, 

especially among minority, female, and disabled populations who do not necessarily benefit from 

traditional, predominantly white male mentoring networks. In this instance, social dominance theory 

helps explain many of the IC challenges in advancement, mentoring, and promotion experienced by 

women, minorities and persons with disabilities. Input from participants can explain how social 

dominance factors into their ability to establish mentoring relationships within the IC. Because Caucasian 

males are in a majority within the general employee population and certainly within the senior population, 

they are more likely to seek out and establish mentoring relationships with other Caucasian males—

employees with whom they can most closely identify as ‘looking like them’ and being closest to their 

social/organizational placement.167 In contrast, women, minorities, and persons with disabilities—groups 

with presumably lower rank and less authority in the organization—reject others from lower ranked, less

authority groups.168 As seen in the IC, this theory reveals why it is more difficult for women, minorities 

and persons with disabilities to establish these crucial mentor relationships.

There is a perception that mentors and mentees tend to be of the same demographic group (i.e., white 

males tend to mentor other white males). This can be problematic for rising minority employees who see 

a lack of representation (and potential mentors) at more senior levels. Indeed, one agency’s FEORP 

statistics indicate that over 80% of mentees and over 90% of mentors are white males. One AfricanAmerican female participant noted that part of the problem is that many managers do not know what 

 165 Rivera and Adkinson “Culturally Sensitive Interventions.” 166 Lipman, V. “Why Do We Spend So Much Developing Senior Leaders and So Little on Training New Managers?” Harvard 

Business Review, June 28, 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/06/why-do-we-spend-so-much-developing-senior-leaders-and-so-littletraining-new-managers. 167 Umphress, et al. "When Birds of a Feather Flock Together.” 168 Umphress, et al. "When Birds of a Feather Flock Together.”

“There is a process that is viewed as a punishment . 

. . there's a culture that folks are afraid of 

retribution.” – African-American Disabled Female, 

FBI

“All of a sudden, they are giving me a letter of 

reprimand. Are you kidding? This was a letter of 

reprimand, in my official file. It took one year to 

basically clear my name. I didn't do anything 

improper.” – Non-Attributed Female Manager, CIA
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mentorship is, and what it is intended to 

do. This participant noted that often, it 

is managers who are hindering their 

employees from getting the training and 

career development needed to advance. 

While it might be difficult for 

management to temporarily lose a topperforming employee in the short term, 

the long term gain of setting up a 

talented individual for success in their 

career should be worth the investment 

to the IC.

In addition to mentoring guidance, the 

lack of constructive critical feedback is 

also an aspect of the IC element culture 

that is potentially damaging to both 

employee performance and diversity 

efforts. Optimally, this type of feedback 

is usually given to an employee 

following career board or selection 

processes. For example, the ODNI 

formal vehicle for this type of 

information and career guidance is the 

Career Advisory Board (CAB), 

providing counselling and feedback meant to guide employees as they progress through their employment 

careers. 

Unfortunately, for women and minorities, receiving guidance from formal vehicles like the CAB, and 

other similar infrastructures throughout the IC, if it is received at all, can be a double-edged sword. In her 

work on Criticism and Ineffective Feedback, Kate Heddleston found that critical feedback is bad for a 

myriad of reasons. First, people have strong, negative reactions to criticism regardless of their gender, 

race, or age. Additionally, people's performance worsens when they are given critical feedback. They 

also end up resenting the person criticizing them, even if the criticism is technically correct or kindly 

meant. Finally, researchers found that criticism is disproportionately given to women and minorities 

during performance reviews, resulting in an uneven distribution of critical feedback in the workplace that 

harms diversity.169 If criticism were applied equally to all employees in the workplace, then there 

wouldn't be a diversity issue with critical feedback. Unfortunately, women are given more criticism in 

employee feedback and performance reviews than men. 

In a recent study by Kieran Snyder, performance reviews were gathered from over 180 people and 

reviewed for their level of critical feedback. The findings showed that 87.9% of women's employee 

reviews had critical feedback compared to 58.9% of men's reviews—a statistically significant difference. 

Additionally, 76% of criticism towards women included personal criticism, e.g. things like "you can come 

across as abrasive sometimes." By contrast, less than 2% of criticism targeting men was personal in 

nature.

170 Similarly, Heddleston further emphasizes that giving more critical feedback to a particular 

 169 Heddleston, Kate. “Criticism of Ineffective Feedback: How our engineering environments are killing diversity,” PyCon 

Montreal, 2015. https://kateheddleston.com/blog/criticism-and-ineffective-feedback. 170 Snyder, Kieran. “The Abrasiveness Trap: High-Achieving Men and Women Are Described Differently in Reviews,” Fortune, 

2014. http://fortune.com/2014/08/26/performance-review-gender-bias/.

“I can't go to someone I don't know and ask them about an 

opportunity directly without having a male counterpart 

introduce me and recommend me as a potential good fit. A man 

could do that without an issue. I don't know why. I think it's a 

perception issue. It's seen as too forward, and then I'm the "B" 

word, and then they don't want to mentor me or hire me.” –

Caucasian Female, NRO

“How do you get people to be more comfortable with people 

who aren't like them? Are you willing to take a risk of 

mentoring someone different and help develop them up that 

ladder? (Are you) willing to take the time to... get over that 

cultural discomfort? In an agency where it's production, 

production, production, people don't want to take the time to do 

that.” – African-American Male, CIA

“You don't have as many women and minorities in senior 

leadership positions, so you have less women and minorities to 

be mentors to minorities and women. It’s a self-fulfilling 

prophecy.” – Caucasian Female, NRO

“If you can't find someone who can empathize with you, then 

it's really hard for them to be your mentor.” – AfricanAmerican/Asian Disabled Female, CIA
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group can have dire consequences. If criticism causes resentment and can worsen a person's performance 

on the criticized task, then it is no longer just an issue of coworkers and managers being "not as nice" to 

particular subsets of people. The fact that women receive more critical feedback than men could 

materially damage their performance as a group. At the very least, it could make it look like women 

resent feedback more than men when they simply resent criticism, which men equally resent. If critical 

feedback is targeted towards certain groups more than others, it has the potential to cause systematic 

changes in behavior in that group by engendering resentment and potentially worsening the criticized 

behavior. Removing the uneven distribution of criticism in employee feedback is critical to creating an 

environment that fosters diversity.

171

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Mentoring

a. Re-examine/re-emphasize existing Mentor Programs. Adopt best practices from industry that 

can be applied to IC elements. According to Dobbin’s opinion in “Best Practices or Best 

Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action in Diversity Policies,” formal 

mentoring programs “can level the playing field, giving women and minorities the kinds of 

relationships that white men get through the old-boy network. Mentoring programs match 

aspiring managers with senior mentors, with the two meeting for career counseling and informal 

advice.”172 Consider, for instance, implementing two-pronged mentoring programs: one mentor 

from the same demographic group as the mentee, and one mentor from outside the demographic 

group of the mentee.173 In addition, according to Erickson’s Model for Effective Mentoring, there 

are four qualities of good mentorship programs:

• Create a ‘gift’ culture – that is, make mentoring programs voluntary, encouraging all 

employees to give freely of their time and insight to help colleagues.

• Address specific work needs – start with a specific project or professional goal that one 

person has and to which another person can contribute. This will establish an initial 

mentoring relationship that can grow to cover more aspects.

• Put the onus on the mentee –mentees should seek out mentor (s) if and when they’re needed. 

The most effective approach is to supply the mentee the names of two or three persons 

willing to mentor. The employee then has the responsibility to seek out the 

advice/mentorship.

• Make it two-way – encourage more experienced employees to seek out rising employees with 

specific questions or advice in the other’s areas of expertise, such as IT or social media 

issues. Research shows this adds value over a traditional mentoring relationship.174

b. Make mentoring programs inclusive – not just for new or rising employees. Mentoring 

opportunities should not just be a program providing guidance and career advice for new hires and 

rising employees. Rather, mentoring should be open at all levels, providing guidance through 

informational relationships, customized to individual needs. According to DeLong, et al., mentoring 

programs were a casualty to hyper-competitive work environments, and, in the case of the IC, rapid 

 171 Heddleston, “Criticism of Ineffective Feedback.” 172 Dobbin, Frank, et al., “Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action and Diversity 

Policies" Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. September 26, 2006. 

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/cfawis/Dobbin_best_practices.pdf. 173 Dinolfo, Sarah and Julie S. Nugent, “Making Mentoring Work”, Catalyst, 2010. 

http://www.catalyst.org/system/files/Making_Mentoring_Work.pdf. 174 Erickson, T. “Give a Give: 4 Tips for More Effective Mentoring.” Harvard Business Review. December 4, 2008. 

https://hbr.org/2008/12/give-a-gift-approaches-for-eff.
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growth following September 11. These programs became too time-intensive when senior and midlevel leadership were consumed with imminent threats and agency growth precluded establishing 

work environments with seasoned managers.175 Mentoring programs exist in most IC agencies with 

varied success. These relationships should be re-evaluated and re-established to determine the most 

effective means to include all employees, even the most senior, who can, instead of career 

progression, seek advice on how to approach, mentor and supervise other segments of the employee 

population.

Key Assignments/Joint Duty Assignments/Career Development

Key or developmental assignments are crucial for advancement within the IC. Having the right 

experience lends weight to an employee’s credibility for leadership and managerial skills when dealing 

with specific and time-sensitive intelligence needs. This can also be said for assignments that are more 

operationally focused as they tend to add more quantitative value to an employee’s résumé. Choosing the 

right developmental assignment, as well as being selected for that position, allows the employee to 

develop the critical skills necessary to operate in a dynamic environment. These assignments are used by 

supervisors when determining lead employees on team assignments, by seniors when determining 

rotational assignments and by promotion boards when determining promotions and potential for retention. 

It is sometimes difficult, from the perspective of entry and mid-level employees, however, to determine 

which opportunities present the best potential for development. A good peer and mentor network, solid 

input, and professional feedback from supervisors and entities like the CAB are integral to this process.

The Civilian Joint Duty Program began as a phased-in, mandated-ODNI program in 2007. It was intended 

to ensure that future intelligence leaders understood the complexity of the Intelligence Enterprise. Joint 

Duty Assignments (JDA) are considered essential to IC agencies at maximizing employee overall IC 

mission awareness as well as being mandatory for promotion to senior-level assignments. Issues with 

JDAs seem to be systemic process issues that affect all employees within the community; however, it 

warrants noting that these issues are felt more strongly by women, minorities, and persons with 

disabilities—with more emphasis on their career progression—than do the majority populations of 

employees due to their smaller networks, peer groups and opportunities for mentorship.

According to participants, the process for determining key assignments for advancement is not always 

streamlined or easily understood by the IC workforce. It is, they report, often unwieldy and difficult to 

navigate. Selection for developmental positions and progression through multiple assignments is viewed 

as an integral part of meeting qualifications for promotion and advancement within the IC. However, 

 175 DeLong, T., et al. “Why Mentoring Matters in a Hypercompetitive World.” Harvard Business Review. January 2008. 

https://hbr.org/2008/01/why-mentoring-matters-in-a-hypercompetitive-world.

Joint Duty Assignments further the interests of each IC element and 

the Community as a whole, promote the effectiveness of the U.S. 

government, and provide future IC leaders with a broader 

perspective on the issues facing the Community. 

Intelligence Community Policy Guidance (ICPG) 601.1, 2009
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guidance varies by IC element and specific JDA-coded billet, with some assignments being more 

beneficial to career progression than others. Many participants in the focus groups were not aware of a 

specific definition of what constitutes joint duty. A lack of clear understanding of the process, 

requirements or definitions of joint duty assignments has led to a general sense that JDAs are not 

consistently credited. According to 

participants, the employees' home 

organizations determine whether joint 

duty credit will be given for a particular 

assignment, and some noted that this 

seemed arbitrarily assigned. While 

certain senior interviewees did not see 

any one particular path being required 

for advancement within the IC, other 

interviewees and focus group 

participants presented strong statements 

that particular assignments, such as 

Chief of Staff positions, for example, 

were necessary for advancement. However, unlike JDAs, serving as a Chief of Staff is not codified as a 

requirement for advancement to the senior executive ranks, thus creating employee confusion. 

Although this may be interpreted as a process issue that all IC employees must contend with, it is worth 

noting that women, minorities and persons with disabilities might be more affected by limited 

opportunities to lobby for or negotiate with seniors and peer groups due to limited available mentors and 

smaller professional networks. Disabled employees have an even smaller mentorship circle available for 

guidance on particular assignments that might be available, career-enhancing and provide reasonable 

accommodations for their specific physical limitations.

JDAs are important across IC elements. At FBI, for instance, a senior African-American male interviewee 

reiterated the need for certain FBI employees to have developmental assignments and experiences. He 

suggested that these kinds of experiences are not just important for the general workforce, but Special 

Agents, who have traditionally had very regimented career paths, can benefit as well. This is especially 

important given FBI’s national security mission. He noted that one of the biggest challenges is getting 

joint duty experience ‘credit’ in the FBI. Generally, when employees return from a JDA, all they are

asked is, “where have you been?”

Interestingly, it was also perceived that, despite the emphasis on JDAs, only the work performed at the 

employee’s home agency is considered for career development and advancement purposes, not the 

employee’s entire career experience. This serves as a ‘mixed message’ to employees—that one has to 

serve on an approved JDA to gain promotion, but that, in reality, it takes time away from establishing 

bona fides and networks at the home agency.

Reintegration following a JDA was also noted to be difficult. Many participants expressed that they felt 

lost and dependent upon the goodwill of others to remember them and assist them in re-integrating. This 

reintegration issue appears across all studied demographics for this project, leading to the conclusion that 

reintegration following JDAs is an IC-wide systemic problem. It would be worth further consideration to 

determine if women, minorities and persons with disabilities feel the effects of this problem with more 

emphasis on their career progression than do the majority populations of employees.

I think one thing that I've learned (is) that men like to work 

with men. This can result in the exclusion of women from 

meetings, training, and other potentially career-enhancing 

activities. Men interact with women differently than they 

interact with other men.” – African-American Female, FBI

“My SES (male) thought the training would be too hard for me. 

Hearing that only challenged me further to succeed.” – AfricanAmerican Female, DIA
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Recommendations and Best Practices: 

Key Assignments, Joint Duty Assignments and Career Development

a. Provide clear definitions, selection policies and guidelines on key assignments, JDAs and 

training. Employees across IC components seemingly do not have clear information on the 

JDA selection processes, the best key assignments for their specific career fields or best 

training offerings. Best practices, as cited in Gwen Moran’s article on ways to tell if your 

workplace is fair, suggest that IC and individual agency career guidance policies on selection 

processes for career-enhancing training and key assignments need to be updated and formally 

disseminated to all employees.176 Specific career paths need to have stated guidelines for 

what training and key assignments are necessary and which are beneficial for selection to the 

next grade. Reasonable accommodations should be considered for non-traditional or disabled 

JDA applicants. JDA guidelines and policies should be easily accessible and updated for all 

employees. 

b. Apply policy guidelines fairly to the selection processes involved with JDA and training 

selections, communicating decisions to workforce in a timely manner to avoid perceptions 

of favoritism or secrecy in process. The concept of ‘fairness’ in the work environment is one 

that is closely monitored by all employees; however, from the perspective of minorities, 

women, and persons with disabilities, workplace practices—particularly selections for key 

assignments that could lead to promotion—are constantly under scrutiny to determine 

whether they are fair. According to contributing editor Caron Beesley at the US Small 

Business Administration, one of the key components to developing a sense of ‘fairness’ in the 

workplace is to provide easily-available governing policies on these types of careerenhancing decisions that employees can reference at will during their progress through the 

promotion process.177 Because there is widespread confusion on training and JDA selection, 

it would be worthwhile to distribute updated agency and IC-wide policies on accessing these 

programs and the standards for selection.

c. Implement guidelines of re-integrations following the completion of JDAs. It is important 

that a reintegration program be in place to bring returning employees ‘back into the fold’ after 

a (potentially) long external assignment. Reintegration is important to solidify the returning 

employee’s value to the home agency and to give credibility for the time spent at another 

agency. Emphasizing an employee’s worth is necessary for retention—returning employees 

bring back valuable lessons learned and established networks from other IC elements and 

should be credited with earned work experience gained during this period. Their time away 

may also highlight perceived deficiencies at the home agency leading to opportunities for 

improvement. 

 176 Moran, G. “6 Ways to Tell if your Workplace is Fair.” http://www.fastcompany.com/3035177/the-future-of-work/6-ways-totell-if-your-workplace-is-fair. 177 Beesely, C. “How to be an Ethical, Fair and Lawful Manager of Employees (While Protecting Your Interests).” July 24, 2013. 

U.S. Small Business Administration Website. https://www.sba.gov/blogs/how-be-ethical-fair-and-lawful-manager-employeeswhile-protecting-your-interests.
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“Work/Life Integration” is a concept that describes the relationship between an employee’s work and 

personal commitments. In the context of workplace diversity and inclusion, obtaining a successful 

balance in work/life integration is essential. When these two factors are in conflict, the employee may 

show symptoms of stress. Based on the data collected across agencies, analysis of work/life integration in 

the context of workplace diversity and inclusion is broken down into two inter-woven subcategories: 

flexible work arrangements and paid family leave. As discussed in the following section, these 

subcategories are crucial to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment in the IC. Following in 

Figure 15 is a summary table of the key Work/Life Integration findings and recommendations, outlined 

according to the subcategories identified for this study:

1 Flexible Work 

Arrangements

Employees require greater control over when and where 

they work, and more supervisor support for their 

personal requirements, in order to reduce work-family 

conflict.

Within the limitations inherent with working in the 

IC, explore ways to design agency-wide flexibility 

(to relieve pressure for people who need it), without 

burdening those working conventionally, and 

without requiring individual employees to figure out 

alone how to balance everything.

2 Paid Family Leave

Paid parental leave was cited as the most important 

benefit to employee retention during times of work-life 

conflict.

Explore options for paid parental leave.

Figure 15. Work/Life Integration Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

According to a new study published in American Sociological Review,178 seven out of ten American 

workers struggle to achieve an acceptable balance between work and family life. That number has been 

climbing over time, to a point where employees— especially those between the ages of 30 and 44—

reported in this study feeling a chronic sense of being pulled in two different directions. In “Changing 

Work and Work-Family Conflict: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network,” researchers 

asked what can be changed in the workplace to address this growing health and productivity problem, A 

problem that has been documented to increase hypertension, impair sleep, increase consumption of 

alcohol and tobacco, increase marital tension, and impair parent-child relationships. They found that by 

modifying factors in workplace groups or departments—factors such as increased schedule control and 

supervisor support—there is a way to move from individual accommodations that an employee negotiates 

with his or her supervisor, toward systemic change across the workplace that benefits all.

Flexible Work Arrangements and Paid Family Leave

Working within the IC, with its inherent security and facility requirements, presents unique challenges for 

employees trying to balance the needs of work and personal life. Several senior interviewees across 

agencies acknowledged these particular IC work/life challenges, and provided some of the ways that have 

been found to mitigate them. For instance, an SES in the NGA Human Resources Directorate highlighted 

that NGA, like other agencies, is in the process of re-vamping its part-time policies, allowing parents to 

go part-time for a while after a birth. Options for flexible work schedules, such as adjusted start/end 

 178 Erin K. “Changing Work and Work-Family Conflict: Evidence from the Work, Family, and Health Network,” American 

Sociological Review, June 2014.

5. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS – WORK/LIFE 

INTEGRATION
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workday times and alternate work 

schedules, she indicated, are also being 

increasingly explored. Several senior 

interviewees pointed out that there are 

substantial costs—both in terms of 

financial and mission impact—

associated with any of these benefits. 

Still, many acknowledged that more 

needs to be done.

This topic resonated within the 

employee focus groups, with participants indicating that they would like to see more flexibility to better 

accommodate family needs. Several female participants spoke of the difficult decision to return to their 

agencies from maternity leave because of the lack of flexible work arrangements. Many thought about 

leaving the agency for industry positions with greater flexibility during this difficult period of transition. 

One participant shared an alarming trend: having unnecessary C-sections in order to qualify for more paid 

time off after a birth. 

When asked what one policy change would most improve work life balance within the IC, the 

overwhelming answer from participants 

was paid medical leave. Although the IC 

has a policy of up to 12 weeks of unpaid 

medical leave, many participants expressed 

a strong lobbying for this leave to be paid. 

Issues with work/life integration seem to 

be systemic process issues that affect all 

employees within the community; 

however, it warrants noting that these 

issues may be experienced more heavily by 

underrepresented groups, such as women, 

who more often have primary caregiver 

responsibilities. In discussions of the 

gender wage gap, the “Motherhood 

Penalty” refers to the theory that 

supposedly women drop out of the 

workplace to be mothers and lose tenure 

and experience and often reenter at a lower 

level or take more flexible (and often lower 

paying) jobs to allow for more time to 

parent. This could account for much of the 

wage gap between men and women.

179 

However, recent research suggests that it is 

just the idea of being a mother that leads to 

workplace discrimination against women. 

Being seen as a mother leads to 

perceptions by management and colleagues 

of less commitment to the job or less 

 179 Correll, S., et al. “Getting a Job: Is There a Motherhood Penalty?” American Journal of Sociology, Vol 112, (March, 2007), 

No. 5, pp. 1297-1338.

“My colleague, who is currently pregnant, is considering having a 

C-section in order to qualify for the two extra weeks of paid leave. 

Can you imagine? She is actually considering having surgery she 

does not need in order to receive extra leave. She needs the time 

with her new baby, but she can’t afford not to get paid.” –

Caucasian Female

“Paid Medical Leave is imperative to recruitment and retention of 

our workforce.” – Caucasian Female

“There is an erosion of maxi-flex over time. Managers 

want to see people working in the office. They get worried 

about timecard audits. They fail to deal with performance 

issues and, instead, take away maxi-flex and set core 

hours.” 

Not Attributed Minority

“It was not possible to do everything I needed to do [at 

home] ...and continue to do everything that was outlined at 

the beginning of the year in my performance evaluation. I 

was very clear with my management, ‘Hey. . . I need help. 

It was a brutal exercise. I finally got approval, but it was 

very capricious.” 

Caucasian Female

“I just had a baby . . . I’m thinking very seriously whether I 

can stay at [home agency]. There’s no day care, no work 

from home. I love being in the community, but I’m not 

sure it gives me the flexibility I want.”

Caucasian Female

“I question [the agency’s commitment to] work/life 

balance. The job requires 24/7 dedication, but it would be 

encouraging to see more seniors demonstrating work/life 

balance. That would be inspiring: seeing that they’re able 

to do their job, but not be their job.” 

Caucasian Female
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ability to put in long hours. This research demonstrates conflicting societal attitudes relating to 

work/family responsibilities and roles, and highlights the stereotyping and discrimination towards women 

endemic in the workplace following motherhood.

180

The complex topic of work/life integration led to a lengthy discussion in many of the focus groups and 

interviews, and participants referenced some possible options for reducing work-life tension, such as 

telecommuting, supervisor empathy, flexible or reduced hours, part-time work, job sharing and paid 

parental/family leave. However, the general focus group participant response was a sense of leadership 

ambivalence and lack of agency commitment to resolving these issues.

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Flexible Work Arrangements and Paid Family Leave

a. Within the limitations inherent with working in the IC, explore ways to design agency-wide 

flexibility (to relieve pressure for people who need it), without burdening those working 

conventionally, and without requiring individual employees to figure out alone how to 

balance everything. Using the approach suggested in the Changing Work and Work-Family 

Conflict study, agencies could migrate from the view that work-family conflicts are solely 

employees’ individual, private troubles, and explore ways to resolve them systemically with a 

broad-based shift in organizational approach and management leadership. By allowing 

employees greater control over when and where they work, and more supervisor support for their 

personal requirements, this study suggests that employees can experience a significant reduction 

in work-family conflict.181 

b. Explore options for paid parental leave. Paid parental/family leave options that have been 

proposed at the state-level or that have been successful in industry, such as employee 

commitment to stay with the agency a certain length of time following the paid leave (similar to

time requirements post employer-paid graduate school programs), or pre-funded employee 

payroll deduction programs, ought to be fully examined within the context of financial cost, 

applicable laws, and validity to the IC.

 180 Brown, L. “The Relationship between Motherhood and Professional Advancement: Perceptions versus Reality.” Employee 

Relational, Vol. 32 (2010), Iss. 5, pp. 470-494. 

181 Kelly, “Changing Work.”
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Despite relatively low numbers in the workforce metrics, persons with disabilities make up a larger 

percentage of the workforce than expected. A disability can happen to anyone, at any point in life, and is 

the one variable that crosses all demographic lines. Greater diversity exists among persons with 

disabilities than for any other demographic group, but they may be the least understood by society at 

large, and by extension, by decision makers and the general workforce within the IC. 

Based on the data collected across agencies, analysis of persons with disabilities in the context of 

workplace diversity and inclusion is broken down into four subcategories: facilities and assistive 

technologies; the employment cycle: recruitment, career development and advancement; the reasonable 

accommodation process; and self-reporting of disabilities. As discussed in the following sections, each of 

these subcategories is crucial to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment in the IC. Following 

in Figure 16 is a summary table of the key Persons with Disabilities findings and recommendations, 

outlined according to the subcategories identified for this study:

Findings Recommendations

1 Awareness

Participants admitted a lack of personal awareness of 

the challenges faced by persons with disabilities in the 

workplace, as well as their own inherent biases toward 

disabilities. 

Educate the workforce about disability issues. 

Allow open access to the IC EEOD's disability 

training courses.

2 Physical Barriers There exist certain physical barriers within the IC 

workplaces, particularly at older sites. 

Perform physical site surveys to immediately 

address physical access issues. Include persons 

from the disabled community to participate in the 

identification and solution process.

3 Advancement - JDAs

Disabled employees noted the difficulties in JDA 

selection and assignment are compounded when there is 

little information on what reasonable accommodations 

are available.

Define a more structured process within the IC to 

coordinate reasonable accommodations for 

employees moving from one IC agency to another 

for new employment or JDAs.

4 Staffing support Support resources for persons with disabilities is 

lagging behind need.

Identify additional resources to address the critical 

need for sufficient staffing to accommodate 

employees with disability. 

Persons with 

Disabilities

Figure 16. Persons with Disabilities Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

Note the following statistics for persons with disabilities:

• In 2013, an estimated 10.8% of persons between the ages 21-64 for all races and ethnicities in the 

United States reported a disability.182

 182 Cornell University Disability Statistics Website. “Disability Statistics.” http://www.disabilitystatistics.org.

6. FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS – PERSONS WITH 

DISABILITIES
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• More than one in four 20 year-olds 

today will become disabled before 

they reach retirement age (2009 

American Community Survey)183 

• More than 50 million (1 in 5) 

Americans over the age of five have 

some form of chronic physical

disability. This number will continue 

to grow as the population ages (2000 

US Census) 184 

• 25 million Americans have 

difficulty walking and/or climbing 

stairs; and 18 million people have 

trouble lifting or grasping small 

objects (2000 US Census).185

A reasonable accommodation within the 

structure of the IC, refers to “any change to 

the job, the work environment, or the way 

things are usually done that allows an individual with a disability to apply for a job, perform job 

functions, or enjoy equal access to benefits available to other individuals in the workplace.”186 The IC 

strives to maintain full compliance with offering accommodations for persons with disabilities in 

accordance with Executive Order 13164. To further advance these efforts, in FY 2015 the IC EEOD 

designated a new Disability Program Manager position and selected an incumbent who entered the 

position in January 2016. While there are many general physical workplace challenges faced by persons 

with disabilities; highlighted here are a few that are unique to the IC. 

Facilities and Assistive Technology

Although the IC strives to maintain full compliance with offering accommodations for persons with 

disabilities, focus group participants highlighted several areas where simply meeting the requirement was 

not sufficient. For example, although bathroom doors within certain agencies may in fact be ADA 

compliant, individuals in wheelchairs reported being unable to get through them. Similarly, physically 

disabled employees reported that some buildings are not equipped with evacuation sleds, as these may not 

necessarily be mandated. This study found that the level of accessibility within the IC varies greatly 

depending on work location. Many newer sites have been designed and built taking into account the 

accessibility needs of a diversely-abled workforce. However, other facilities within the IC operate from 

older locations, where re-designing structures to allow for greater accessibility creates structural 

challenges. Thus, access to restrooms, security checkpoints, and emergency evacuation procedures all 

present challenges to persons with physical disabilities working in these environments. 

Another area of concern among participants with disabilities was the move to open air work spaces (e.g., 

low/no cube walls) which impacts hard-of-hearing employees who cannot clearly hear conversations with 

 183 AskEARN Website. "Disability: Workforce Trends." September 10, 2013. 

http://www.askearn.org/refdesk/Diversity_Goals/Disability_Trends. 184 United Spinal Association. “Disability Etiquette: Tips on Interacting with People with Disabilities.” United Spinal Association 

Website. 2015. http://unitedspinal.org/pdf/DisabilityEtiquette.pdf. 185 Cornell University, “Disability Statistics.” 186 Office of Personnel Management. https://www.opm.gov.

“When I first came to the agency, in a wheelchair, the 

facilities weren't there for me to function. I had to 

self-advocate. I couldn't use the restroom in my 

building. I had to go to another building to use the 

restroom.” – Disabled Male, NSA

“You can't go through the “man trap” gates...if you're a 

wheelchair user. The bathrooms at work, even the ADA 

bathrooms, have doorways that you're not able to get through 

in a wheelchair. The agency's response is that [the doors] are 

within the law. You can be within the law, but if the people 

that need to [access the building or] use the restroom can't get 

through the door, then I think it's time to go a little above and 

beyond the minimum requirement.” –Disabled Female, CIA 
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the ambient noise, and may not be able to use voice recognition tools in the open spaces. Similarly, 

meetings by video teleconference bring together employees who might be geographically dispersed; 

however, individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired cannot effectively participate in this medium 

without assistive technology.

Many persons with disabilities report being able to perform the essential duties of their jobs with 

assistance from certain software or adaptive computer systems. However, given current security 

requirements, not all software and tools are readily adaptable. This has a real impact on employees who 

rely on these tools to do their jobs. CIA employees with disabilities reported that they are required to use 

a particular system on the job that is not compatible with assistive technology. Focus group participants 

reported slow updates and approvals for software that would allow persons with disabilities to better do 

their jobs. One focus group participant, for instance, reported that he/she is ineligible for further 

promotion because assistive technology cannot be used with a particular required system. 

The Employment Cycle: Recruitment, Career Development and Advancement

One senior interviewee acknowledged that IC security requirements make for a particularly challenging 

workplaces for persons with disabilities, adding that agencies will work with disabled employees to 

carefully examine requirements and determine the types of accommodations that can reasonably be 

applied. This type of individualized examination is imperative as the IC competes for talent against 

industry positions that may offer more flexibility, assistive technology, and readily accessible facilities. 

Another senior interviewee shared a longstanding view that IC agencies believe the exciting nature of the 

work brings people in to apply for employment. However, for employees with disabilities, the nature of

the work may be overshadowed by the challenges of accessing highly secure environments that does not 

provide the use of current technologies inside the work spaces, thus creating a barrier to live and work 

independently. Employees with disabilities may also be specifically challenged by sitting for a 

polygraph. Participants expressed concern that certain disabilities, such as mobility limitations or 

respiratory impairments, may impact polygraph testing results. These conditions make it harder to sell 

the IC to talented disabled prospective employees. One senior interviewee with a disability expressed: “If 

you were a person with a disability considering employment within the IC, you would have to ask, ‘Why 

would I chose this?’”

Many employees with disabilities expressed frustration over their lack of inclusion in or access to 

networking events, career advancing positions, joint-duty assignments, mentoring programs, and 

leadership roles. One participant with a disability summed up this frustration well by sharing: “I've been 

dying to network. It’s hard to do as a deaf person. Who do I talk to? Who do I meet? People do so much 

incidentally in conversation, and I have to do it in writing. That's just my life – I' m left out.” 
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Attending networking or social events can be culturally important in the workplace. Employees often 

find ways to network at these informal events, 

which can lead to broader exposure to 

leadership for advancement opportunities. 

However, limited vision, limited mobility, and 

deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) employees 

may feel excluded from these events, given that 

they may not be able to navigate the space 

physically, or understand voices in rooms with 

background noise. Also importantly, several 

DHH participants reported being unable to get 

an interpreter for non-official work. 

Persons with disabilities face additional 

challenges when considering Joint Duty 

Assignments (JDAs). In addition to the regular 

challenges of having to apply for and be 

selected for a JDA, there are the compounding 

requirements of having to secure 

accommodation for the disability at the other 

agency (e.g., software, tools, sign language 

interpreters, transportation). Accommodations 

made at the home agency do not automatically 

apply to the other agency, and not all agencies have the same approved assistive technologies. Limited 

transit options may exist for getting to certain IC work locations, and for moving between dispersed 

buildings. Employees with disabilities reported the challenges of initially having to figure out how to get 

to and from their home agency each day. With driving limitations, figuring out new transportation routes 

for short-term assignments compounds the difficulty. Together these challenges make completing JDA 

requirements more difficult for persons with disabilities, which may in turn limit upward career mobility.

Participants with a disability repeatedly expressed frustration over a lack of persons with disabilities in IC 

leadership: that while employees with disabilities could be found in more entry or support roles, it would 

be inspiring to see someone with a disability in a decision-making role, or one that could serve as a 

mentor.

The Reasonable Accommodation Process

Many focus group participants expressed that the Reasonable Accommodation process was not wellknown within each agency. Some individuals requiring accommodation view the process as burdensome. 

To avoid a lengthy process, employees sometimes work informally with their supervisors to develop a 

beneficial understanding. But if granted outside the formal Reasonable Accommodation process, these 

understandings may not automatically transfer to the next assignment or supervisor. While work-arounds 

help in the short run, they can limit the disabled employee’s next career move.

An interesting point emerged through the collection of narrative data. Among employees with 

disabilities, the Reasonable Accommodation process was described as easier to navigate for those who 

have long-term disabilities, as they have had experience with the system, know the requirements, 

understand what’s needed and have learned how to ask for it. For the long-term disabled employee, it’s 

sometimes simply a matter of connecting with the right person to move through the process. By contrast, 

for those whose disability is new or short-term in scope, the situation can be much harder. Foremost, it’s 

psychologically hard. A newly-disabled employee may still be struggling to accept the disability, 

“I was actively discouraged from applying for JDA. (The 

other agency) can't accommodate you, (I was told). (That 

other agency) will not allow you to bring in external 

hardware. You can't go to (the other facility) because they 

aren't prepared for your particular circumstances.” –

Caucasian Disabled Male

“I feel that there is nobody at all I can look to that has a 

visible disability and is in a management position, a more 

senior one.” – Caucasian Disabled Female, CIA

“We'd all love to see somebody succeed who looks like us, 

and we can emulate them; learn from them; but ...when it 

comes to a disability, it's very difficult unless someone (has a 

visible disability). I'd love to have a mentor who's faced the 

challenges I've faced. But they're not really obvious all the 

time, and unless (they disclose their disability) you don't 

know. –Caucasian Disabled Male, CIA
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reluctant to openly talk about it, and learning to articulate their needs to supervisors. These employees 

may try to hide their disability. Accommodating new disabilities seems to take more time and attention, 

which could be argued particularly impacts certain employee groups, such as newer hires or disabled 

millennials, and warrants further exploration.

It was also heard in the focus groups that there is a commonly-held misperception that the National 

Security Act outweighs the requirement to accommodate individuals under the Rehabilitation Act. “Not 

true”, according to an IC disability expert. “The National Security Act does not supersede the 

Rehabilitation Act or the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There are only two 

reasons for the IC not to accommodate 

someone: undue hardship, and direct 

threat.”187 Thus, while agencies may be 

adhering to both the letter and the intent 

of this law, the perception within the 

disabled workforce remains that 

agencies may be avoiding making the 

effort to accommodate certain 

disability.

Self-Reporting of Disabilities

Across the interviews and focus groups, 

participants expressed an unwillingness to self-report disabilities. According to a Virginia 

Commonwealth University study on employers’ attitudes towards people with disabilities, the type and 

severity of the disability may impact the extent to which persons with disabilities are included in the 

workforce. The study found that employers have greater concern about hiring and working with persons 

with mental or emotional disabilities than those with visible physical disabilities.188 These findings may 

explain why IC employees may be unwilling to self-disclose hidden disabilities.

Many minority participants in the focus groups shared that they decided not to self-report a disability to 

their agency. These participants commented that it goes against cultural norms to avail themselves of 

accommodations services, particularly in the case of hidden disabilities or mental illness (i.e., sleep 

disorders, attention deficits, chronic illness, PTSD, stress, etc.). Because these undeclared disabilities 

may still influence how the affected employees perceive the inclusiveness of the IC workplace, this issue 

warrants further research and consideration. 

Recommendations and Best Practices:

Reasonable Accommodations

a. Further educate the workforce about disability issues. During the focus groups, participants 

expressed an awareness of the new disability training course offerings being developed by IC 

EEOD, and many expressed interest in participating in such training at all levels. Importantly, 

 187 United States. H.R. 10428: A Bill to Amend Section 102 of the National Security Act of 1947 to Prohibit Certain 

Activities by the Central Intelligence Agency and to Limit Certain Other Activities by Such Agency. [Washington, 

D.C.]: [U.S.G.P.O.], 1973. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/about/organization/ic-legal-reference-book-2012/refbook-1947-national-security-act.

188 Wehman, P. “An Evaluation of the Progression of Disability Benefits among Workers in American Industry: Impact, 

Outcomes and Implications Monograph. Richmond, VA: Work Support Network, Virginia Commonwealth University. May 

2002. http://www.worksupport.com/resources/printView.cfm/14).

“We absolutely hide our disabilities in the CIA. When you 

get hired, if you disclose it, it's a disqualifier... there's a 

culture that folks are afraid of retribution and (afraid to) 

disclose their disability. At this agency, you're better off 

hiding (your disability) as long as you can.” – Caucasian 

Disabled Female, CIA

“I typically don't advertise that I wear hearing aids. I don't 

want to advertise it... I don't want to be viewed as different 

from anybody else.” – Caucasian Disabled Male, CIA
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participants often admitted a lack of personal awareness of the challenges faced by persons with 

disabilities in the workplace, as well as their own inherent biases toward disabilities. But 

resoundingly, the take-away from the focus groups was a strong desire at all levels to broaden the 

discussion of these issues and to work to remove these types of barriers, both physical and 

attitudinal. 

b. Perform physical site surveys to immediately address physical access issues. From the 

narrative data collection, it was apparent that immediately addressing issues of physical access as 

they arise would lend stronger credibility to the IC’s stated commitment to being an inclusive 

workplace for persons with disabilities. By inviting and encouraging the physically disabled 

workforce to participate in this process – to voice concerns and to provide input into obstacles - a 

more generally accessible end result could be achieved. 

Additional recommendations were offered by NSA’s Office of Disability Affairs, which have been 

included here: 

c. Define a more structured process within the IC to coordinate reasonable accommodations

for employees moving from one IC agency to another for new employment or JDAs. The 

JDA process was explored in detail in the “Career Advancement” portion of this report, with 

strong indication across all demographics that the process suffers from systemic issues. These 

issues which affect all employees may be affecting employees with disabilities to a greater extent, 

given the added complexities of physical limitations, lack of consistent access to technical tools, 

and greater reluctance to accept employees requiring accommodations into JDA assignments. 

Some of these factors might be reduced by structuring an IC-wide process to coordinate 

reasonable accommodations. This would assist employees with disabilities by providing a single 

go-to source for information on requirements and potential restrictions.

d. Identify additional resources to address the critical need for sufficient staffing to 

accommodate employees with disability. For example, NSA has substantially increased the 

number of Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) employees over the last five years, but there has been no 

increase in the number of sign language interpreters.
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The intelligence agencies and elements that 

comprised Phase III of this study each 

perform an important role within the IC; 

however, many consist of a comparatively 

small number of employees relative to the 

entirety of their workforce. While these 

elements expressed a desire to participate 

in this study, many indicated that they did 

not have the resources nor the ability to 

segregate their agencies’ demographic data 

in order to examine the intelligence 

component separately. For instance, while 

some elements were able to provide the 

requested data specific to their agency’s 

Intelligence component to facilitate the 

study, most Phase III elements reported 

that their aggregate data, such as the MD715, would not adequately reflect the type of information needed for the purpose of this study since the 

intelligence component of the workforce information is not separate but is blended into that of the entire 

element’s workforce data. Likewise, while most Phase III elements were able to identify and provide 

Senior IC managers for individual interviews, the small size of these elements further limited the ability 

to obtain sufficient volunteers to participate in focus groups. Thus, many of the Phase III elements were 

limited in their involvement in this study.

189 This led to a fragmented view of the ten elements that 

comprised Phase III. Given the variance in the data, this phase of analysis had to be handled differently. 

The research team still found some rich points in the data; highlighted here are a few stand-out points.

Notably, many of the issues highlighted in the Big Six Intelligence Agency analysis were found in 

the ten other IC elements as well. For instance, across all grade levels, the need for a more diverse and 

inclusive IC workforce was viewed as imperative, while at the same time, disappointment was expressed 

that the issues of bringing a more diverse workforce together in the IC were still pervasive.

Not surprisingly, across the work lifecycle of recruitment, advancement, and retention, many of the issues 

that were identified in the Big Six Agencies also arose in the 10 elements. Common issues continued to 

be heard, such as:

There is a lack of diversity at the senior level. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities remain 

underrepresented in the formal power and leadership hierarchies of the IC elements. In general, the 

 189 Several Phase III elements, such as the Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) and the intelligence 

components of the United States Air Force and the United States Navy, among others, have recently conducted their own internal 

barrier analysis studies. This study serves to compliment those efforts and to work in conjunction with the individual IC 

elements’ findings and recommendations.

OTHER IC ELEMENTS FINDINGS SYNOPSIS

“We need a diversity of ideas, experiences, and 

cultures, especially in the IC. The world is not 

Anglo-Saxon. We need diversity to give texture to 

the quality of analysis...bringing full experience 

together to put context to a phenomenon that we’re 

looking at. The number of Arab, Asian, Hispanic, 

and African people is growing in the world and we 

must operate there. This is not diversity for 

diversity’s sake---it’s about the mission.” – Senior 

Interviewee, DHS

“It is disappointing that the IC still is not very 

diverse... After 30 years in government, it does not 

look much different than when I started.” – Senior 

Interviewee, DHS
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pattern is one of declining minority representation as seniority/rank/grade level increases. Many senior 

interviewees from IC elements noted a spike in their mid-level minority representation, and credited it to 

increasingly focused recruiting and retention efforts to increase diversity among those poised to assume 

leadership roles. This was expressed by one senior interviewee at the United States Coast Guard who 

shared that the key for this diversity to be maintained is for this pool of demographically diverse 

employees to be promoted and retained.

There is a lack of transparency in employment practices. The study found a common perception that 

employment processes—from hiring, to performance evaluations, to promotions and awards, to selection 

for key assignments—are not transparent. Further, absent objective, realistic, transparent standards, IC 

elements expose themselves to the perception that employment decisions were made arbitrarily and 

therefore could adversely impact minority demographic groups. Conversely, there is also some sentiment 

among employees, particularly though not exclusively white males, that the IC’s focus on diversity in 

hiring and promotion decisions is lowering standards for selection.

Hiring and promotion practices are dependent on “who you know.” There is a perception at many of 

the IC elements that there's a pervasive "good old boys" network/culture that puts women, persons with 

disabilities, and especially minorities at a disadvantage when it comes to hiring and

advancement. Participants from the United States Navy’s intelligence components and the United States 

Air Force’s intelligence components noted an internal cliquish atmosphere and suggested that the key to 

getting hired or promoted or selected for training is to have a relative or friend somewhere on the inside. 

It was further suggested that job descriptions are often manufactured to fit certain persons wanted for hire 

or promotion. As one African-American female employee stated, “The good old boy network is alive and 

strong at (this IC element).” This sentiment led minority participants to perceive that their qualifications 

did not matter; selections were made with a “like-me” preference.

Hiring and retaining minority employees is especially important for certain missions. For instance, 

at DHS, hiring and retaining Hispanic employees is especially important because border issues fall into 

the DHS portfolio. Low representation of women and Hispanics was noted as a particular problem at the 

El Paso office; a senior interviewee reported that there is only one Hispanic in a senior position, and only 

three women employees. According to this senior interviewee, DHS also wants to increase American

Indian representation, but history makes it hard for the federal government to earn trust and build 

relationships with tribal governments and individuals. 

Rising employees in minority demographics have difficulties seeking mentorship. Many participants 

across the other IC elements emphasized that the formal mentorship program within their element is 

haphazard, at best—and at worst, non-existent. Problems associated with the mentorship program (or 

lack thereof) were thought by senior interviewees to contribute to high rates of turnover; lack of 

minorities and females in higher office; and dozens of people vying for certain highly sought-after 

mentors. Also, the perception among employees seems to be that you can only seek out a mentor for

career advancement purposes and not for other purposes (i.e., guidance on work/life balance, being a 

female in a predominantly male environment, etc.). 

Employees have little trust in leadership. Across the IC elements, many of the participants voiced a 

distrust of the EEO process, other "processes" or "systems"—whatever they may be, senior 

leadership, and maybe also to a certain extent, their own peers. Because there exists a lack of women, 

minorities, and persons with disabilities in high visibility senior-level positions, many participants, such 

as the women interviewed at one of the military service’s Intelligence component, expressed distrust of 

leadership’s statements of diversity and inclusion as mission-imperative. Such pervasive distrust will be a 

challenge to overcome to help these under-represented employees believe that leadership is committed to 

their professional development. 
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Leadership sets the example. Other participants across the IC elements stressed the importance of 

strong leadership, saying that how their leadership acts sets an example for the rest of the organization. 

Under one particularly strong agency leader, a senior interviewee from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of 

Intelligence Analysis shared, “there was never any doubt about the mission and accomplishments”. This 

strong sense of identity and purpose trickles down and is felt at all levels, by all demographic groups. 

These types of workplace issues appeared common across all IC components, though they manifested in 

unique ways within each IC element’s individual workplace culture. While this study was often unable to 

determine whether these negative perceptions corresponded to reality of practices, it was found that the 

perception in and of itself is relevant for the IC. Although it is unknown the extent to which these 

perceptions are based on actual differential treatment of minority demographic groups, they clearly 

represent impediments to the goal of creating a culture of diversity and an environment of inclusivity

where all members feel equally valued, able to contribute, and encouraged to succeed.
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In a world where “unpredictable instability” is the new normal, the case for diversity in the IC is clear. 

The U.S. faces a diverse array of complicated national security threats both at home and abroad. 

Countering such diverse threats requires a creative and dynamic IC capable of collecting and analyzing 

nuanced, multidisciplinary intelligence in order to successfully protect American lives and interests 

around the world. Research shows that committing to diversity and inclusion improves innovation, as 

well as team decision-making and problem solving. This is not lost on the 17 agencies that comprise the 

IC—each one has deployed a number of different initiatives aimed at cultivating a more diverse and 

inclusive workforce. However, despite these efforts, persistent workplace challenges continue to hinder 

women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in the IC.

This study focused on identifying and analyzing the diversity and inclusion perceptions of the individual 

and perhaps the collective attitudinal impact in the workforce and what current diversity research tells us 

about generating recommendations for possible approaches to ameliorate these problems. The study did 

not follow the standard practice of identifying triggers and barriers by comparing the statistical numbers 

or percentages from the previous year(s) to the current one. Rather, it took a different approach, shifting 

to a more workforce-oriented methodology. It was unique in that it examined the IC as an integrated 

entity and was entirely performed by outside consultants. Data came from statistics provided by IC 

agencies, as well as from one-on-one interviews and focus groups with employees who spoke candidly 

about their personal workplace struggles. These participants made it clear that while they are absolutely 

committed to the IC’s mission, they recognize that there is room for improvement with diversity and 

inclusion. An extensive review of agency data confirms these observations that IC diversity programs are 

falling short; a comprehensive review of applicable research and literature revealed a number of possible 

reasons why.

Research suggests that traditional diversity programs fail for many reasons. Too often, leaders implement 

aggressive diversity initiatives that are not rooted in empirical research. Not only do these policies fail to 

make organizations fairer for underrepresented groups, they alienate a substantial portion of the 

workforce, many of whom are in the best positions to effect change. This report suggests a number of 

recommendations for improving the IC’s diversity environment. IC leaders should consider taking a 

multi-pronged approach to implementing these recommendations and changes, with a focus on:

• Awareness: Leaders should continue to raise awareness of barriers in the workplace, ideally 

with empathy training combined with unconscious bias training and encourage managers and 

employees in a positive way to be conscious of and understand the concerns and frustrations of 

other demographic groups. 

• Exposure: Leaders should seek to increase employees’ exposure to qualified managers and 

employees with diverse backgrounds, thereby positively impacting the way people think about 

those different groups and eroding currently-held stereotypes and unconscious biases.

• Action: Leaders can take action to increase exposure and modify the way they see others 

different from themselves by providing activities such as: highlighting positive, diverse role 

models in positions of leadership; getting involved with employee resource groups; 

implementing formal mentorship and shadowing programs; and more. 

• Social accountability: Finally, leaders should encourage social accountability, rather than 

forced compliance, as a means of mitigating bias and improving diversity and inclusion. Social 

accountability encourages the use of such methods as diversity task forces comprised of 

volunteers and invitees from management and members of underrepresented groups to

investigate potential barriers and come up with their own solutions. Instead of force-feeding 

CONCLUSION
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policies, management and employees become actively engaged in improving their work 

environment. This approach utilizes transparency to encourage effective actions by 

understanding and promoting peer successes.

Like other successful organizations, each of the 17 elements of the IC can achieve success in diversity and 

inclusion by treating the process as an enterprise change initiative linked to other critical mission 

priorities. Diversity isn’t about counting people, but rather embedding diversity and inclusion into every 

organizational process—from talent acquisition, to workforce development, to leadership planning, and 

more. It means engaging the entire workforce and ensuring involvement of senior leadership. If handled 

effectively, diversity will be less about compiling demographic statistics and more about making the IC 

a more dynamic and agile force capable of meeting the national security demands of a more global and 

interconnected world. Diversity initiatives must be strongly supported by research, implemented 

carefully, and then evaluated to ascertain their effectiveness. The findings of this report point to areas 

that would benefit from additional research to include conducting impact analyses on the implementation 

of recommendations contained in this study and further examination of existing programs currently 

underway at various agencies.
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APPENDIX A: FURTHER DETAILS ON FINDINGS AND 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

Following is a summary chart of the thirty-six findings and recommendations of this report, outlined 

according to the six key variables and subcategories identified for this study:

Findings Recommendations

1 Leadership Managers and supervisors fail to provide the leadership 

necessary to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace. Offer quality role models. 

2 Diversity Optics Minority demographic representation in senior 

leadership is lacking.

Provide leadership education, mentorship 

opportunities and shadowing programs at lower 

and mid-levels.

3 Diversity Optics

Seeing someone from minority demographics in senior 

leadership is powerful and inspiring, and demonstrates 

an agency’s commitment to diversity. 

Promote diversity at the top.

4 Diversity Optics Diversity in leadership helps attract a more diverse pool 

of applicants.

Identify a diverse array of aspiring leaders early on 

in their careers and nurture them to be prepared to 

eventually become senior leaders.

5 Diversity Optics

“Token” promotions or appointments only serve to 

confirm negative stereotypes and alienate employees, 

and can compromise the mission.

Avoid "tokenism" in promotions and appointments.

6 Leadership Skills Mid-level managers are viewed as lacking empathy for 

non-majority cultural experiences.

Offer empathy training as part of a comprehensive 

leadership education program.

7 Leadership Skills Mid-level managers often fail to address poor 

performance and workplace problems/inequities.

Invest in leadership training that promotes diversity 

and encourages cooperation. 

8 EEO/Diversity 

Leadership Practices

Diversity training, specifically the unconscious bias 

training, is well-intentioned but not sufficient and fails 

to impact long-lasting behavioral change.

Steer discourse about diversity and inclusion issues 

in a positive way. 

9 EEO/Diversity 

Leadership Practices

Many grievances filed with the EEOD office are 

viewed as being ignored, or lead to retaliation from 

supervisors or co-workers.

Take steps to discourage retaliation and ensure, 

when possible, that the grievance process remains 

anonymous.

10 EEO/Diversity 

Leadership Practices

There is perception of widespread inconsistencies in 

how EEOD complaints are handled, and a lack of 

transparency throughout the grievance process.

Increase transparency and address perceived 

inconsistencies in the EEOD grievance process. 

Leadership

Figure A.1. Leadership Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

APPENDICES
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Findings Recommendations

1 Workplace Diversity There is a perception in the IC of disenfranchisement 

among women, minorities and persons with disabilities. 

Reiterate the roles of diversity and inclusivity as 

integral parts of the IC mission execution. 

2 Workplace Diversity There is a general belief that diversity and inclusion are 

not fully integrated into the IC's daily environment.

Hold leadership and staff accountable for 

behaviors outside the scope of Agency and IC 

Diversity Policies. 

3 Racial & Gender 

Stereotypes

Many employees feel their employment is defined by 

their stereotype (e.g., angry black woman, quiet Asian, 

etc.)

Foster inclusivity in the workplace.

4 Racial & Gender 

Stereotypes

Participant input showed that each demographic has 

cultural sensitivities that can govern their perception 

inside the work environment.

Conduct an element or agency-wide Cultural Audit. 

5 Racial & Gender 

Stereotypes

Stereotypical perceptions of employees can inhibit 

advancement and retention. Ensure leaders model diversity and inclusion.

6 Hierarchical Structures Hierarchical structured environments emphasis "elite" 

groups. Emphasize top talent in all career paths of the IC. 

7 Hierarchical Structures

Perceptions of impenetrable elite groups leave underrepresented minority groups without avenues to advance 

and participate.

Encourage communication and coordination of 

Agency work teams. 

Organizational 

Culture and Work 

Environment

Figure A.2. Organizational Culture and Work Environment Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

Figure A.3. Recruitment and Selection Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

Findings Recommendations

1 Diversity in Recruiting

IC female, minority and disabled employees 

perceive recruiting efforts to be geared only to 

historical "White male" universities which 

perpetuates majority hiring practices.

Effectively communicate successes in diversity 

recruitment internally.

2 Diversity in Recruiting

Recruiting teams have limited commonality with 

perspective applicants at historically Black, Hispanic 

or Asian universities if they are composed of 

predominantly Caucasian team members. Minority 

applicants have to compete against the 'status quo 

bias' when competing for jobs against a 

predominantly white applicant pool. 

Include additional representatives from minority 

groups on recruiting teams, which should also 

facilitate having multiple applicants from 

minority groups included in the applicant pool. 

3 Diversity in Recruiting

IC recruiting teams have difficulty establishing the 

IC as a viable career opportunity if they are only 

present at annual University Hiring/Job Fairs.

Partner with student organizations to attract 

minority candidates.

4 Cultural Sensitivity in 

Recruiting

Certain minority cultures (e.g., Hispanic 

Communities) require understanding of cultural 

sensitivities when considering job opportunities. 

Family plays a large role in job decisions.

Understand the important role of family in 

Hispanic Culture for applicants. 

5 Cultural Sensitivity in 

Recruiting

There is a perception in some Hispanic Recruiting 

areas that the IC has no understanding of Hispanic 

culture or other Hispanic employees -- families want 

to think their family members will not be left 

without cultural support.

Incorporate appropriate employee cultural 

representatives into the recruiting process. 

6 Cultural Sensitivity in 

Recruiting

Some Historically Black, Hispanic, Asian or 

Disabled Universities only receive IC recruiting 

teams sporadically. There is no effort made to build 

trusted relationships advocating the IC as a positive 

career.

Continue efforts to establish trusted relationships 

with diversity-rich schools. 

Recruitment and 

Selection
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Findings Recommendations

1 Promotion / 

Opportunities

Women, minorities and persons with disabilities oftern 

feel that their career advancement/IDPs are not given 

enough effort by management. Because they have 

smaller peer networks and/or mentors who understand 

their specific issues, they often have no direction for 

advancement.

Emphasize the importance of developing Individual 

Development Plans (IDPs) for all employees. 

2 Promotion / 

Opportunities

There is a noted lack of clear guidance, constructive 

feedback and career advancement pathways presented to 

women, minorities and persons with disabilities in the 

IC. Supervisors give insufficient feedback and at times, 

cultural biases are perceived or cultural sensitivities 

inhibit meaningful exchange with supervisors.

Ensure that all new managers/supervisors, rather 

than primarily Senior Leadership, receive proper 

training in providing performance feedback.

3 Mentoring

Mentorship programs are perceived as ineffective, 

particularly when there are too few volunteers of 

diverse backgrounds to act as mentors, and there is no 

guidance on how they are to be implemented.

Re-establish/re-emphasize existing Mentor 

Programs. 

4 Mentoring

There is a noted lack of mentors at the mid-levels which 

is especially felt by women, minorities and persons with 

disabilities who have fewer role models from similar 

backgrounds and smaller peer networks for advocacy.

Make mentoring programs inclusive – not just for 

new or rising employees. 

5 Key Assignments / JDA 

/ Career Development

There is a lack of understanding across the IC on the 

policies governing selection to JDAs or key 

assignments. With smaller peer networks and fewer 

mentors available with similar backgrounds, it is 

difficult for minority demographics to determine which 

assignments are beneficial or available. 

Provide clear definitions, selection policies and 

guidelines on key assignments, Joint Duty 

Assignments and training. 

6 Key Assignments / JDA 

/ Career Development

Employees perceive that selection for key 

assignments/JDAs is often pre-determined for 'favored' 

employees. Caucasian males rely heavily on their 

mentors to prepare and recommend them for these key 

positions; minority demographics don't necessarily have 

the same contacts or preparation.

Apply policy guidelines fairly to the selection 

processes involved with JDA and training 

selections, communicating decisions to workforce in 

a timely manner to avoid perceptions of favoritism 

or secrecy in process. 

7 Key Assignments / JDA 

/ Career Development

Although issues with JDA re-integration are felt by all 

employees, these issues are more keenly felt by women, 

minorities and persons with disabilities as they have 

smaller peer networks to advocate for them or mentors 

to guide them back into the home agency environment.

Implement guidelines of re-integrations following 

the completion of JDAs. 

Advancement

Figure A.4. Advancement Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart
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Findings Recommendations

1 Flexible Work 

Arrangements

Employees require greater control over when and where 

they work, and more supervisor support for their 

personal requirements, in order to reduce work-family 

conflict.

Within the limitations inherent with working in the 

IC, explore ways to design agency-wide flexibility 

(to relieve pressure for people who need it), without 

burdening those working conventionally, and 

without requiring individual employees to figure out 

alone how to balance everything.

2 Paid Family Leave

Paid parental leave was cited as the most important 

benefit to employee retention during times of work-life 

conflict.

Explore options for paid parental leave.

Work/Life 

Integration

Figure A.5. Work/Life Integration Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

Findings Recommendations

1 Awareness

Participants admitted a lack of personal awareness of 

the challenges faced by persons with disabilities in the 

workplace, as well as their own inherent biases toward 

disabilities. 

Educate the workforce about disability issues. 

Allow open access to the IC EEOD's disability 

training courses.

2 Physical Barriers There exist certain physical barriers within the IC 

workplaces, particularly at older sites. 

Perform physical site surveys to immediately 

address physical access issues. Include persons 

from the disabled community to participate in the 

identification and solution process.

3 Advancement - JDAs

Disabled employees noted the difficulties in JDA 

selection and assignment are compounded when there is 

little information on what reasonable accommodations 

are available.

Define a more structured process within the IC to 

coordinate reasonable accommodations for 

employees moving from one IC agency to another 

for new employment or JDAs.

4 Staffing support Support resources for persons with disabilities is 

lagging behind need.

Identify additional resources to address the critical 

need for sufficient staffing to accommodate 

employees with disability. 

Persons with 

Disabilities

Figure A.6. Persons with Disabilities Findings and Recommendations Summary Chart

Each individual IC agency or element must define the approach that best addresses these findings within 

their own, unique workplace culture. How the IC as a whole addresses the findings that were uncovered 

in this study is crucial to improving both the perception of and the reality of workplace barriers. It will 

take extraordinarily strong leadership to implement change, and in turn very strong leadership from the 

individual IC elements for any real change to occur. As in any organization, the leadership of each 

element plays a vital role in setting the tone of the work climate. The leadership example must be 

mirrored by the individual managers and supervisors at the line-level within their respective IC elements 

who are in the most critical position to impact culture. The actions and behaviors of this middlemanagement level are crucial to implementing successful change initiatives. The IC will face significant 

challenges in leveraging the key leaders, middle managers, and advocates within each of the elements to 

achieve the necessary results.
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APPENDIX B: FURTHER DETAILS ON PROJECT 

METHODOLOGY

The following offers additional details to the earlier discussion on the methodology that was developed 

and employed for data collection and analysis purposes in undertaking this study.

Development of Analytic Model. Initial analysis was focused on relevant organizational issues by using 

descriptive models from the organizational development field. Two existing organizational models were 

adapted for this effort: Marvin Weisbord’s Six Box Model and McKinsey’s Seven S Model.

Weisbord’s Six Box Model (Figure A.7), provides a descriptive model that is useful for examining the 

data from a larger systems perspective. This model considers six factors to examine the functions of an 

organization:

1. Purposes: What is our mission?

2. Structure: How do we divide up the work?

3. Relationships: How do we manage conflict (coordinate) among people? With our technologies?

4. Rewards: Is there an incentive for doing all that needs doing?

5. Leadership: Is someone keeping everything in balance?

6. Helpful mechanisms: Is there adequate coordination (e.g., information sharing, meetings, 

tools)?

Figure A.7. Weisbord Six-Box Model: Organizations as Systems

Two categories in the Weisbord model were not directly applicable for the purpose of this analysis. These 

categories were:

• Purpose: The Intelligence Community, and each of its elements, has a clear vision and mission. 

• Rewards: the project scope was how diversity and inclusion affect all aspects of performance 

throughout the IC, rather than specifics about personnel systems.
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Two modifications to the Weisbord model were made by adopting two categories from McKinsey’s 

Seven S model190 (Figure A.8), a value-based management model that describes how to holistically and 

effectively define an organization. The two categories adopted from McKinsey’s model were: 

• Skills: the individual and organizational abilities 

• Style: the culture and behavior of the organization

Figure A.8. McKinsey’s Seven S Model

After integrating the most appropriate factors from the two models, the revised model, as shown in Figure 

A.9, created a structured analytic framework to highlight particular strengths and areas for improvement. 

Content analysis was used to extract key data points from the quantitative and qualitative data collected 

and placed them in the appropriate categories of the revised model. 

Figure A.9. Analytic Framework for Assessing Barriers to Workforce Diversity and Inclusion

 

190 McKinsey’s Seven S Model: http://www.reflectlearn.org/discover/frameworks
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As the data analysis progressed, this integrated model was further adapted to highlight six major areas 

where the IC can take an integrated approach to advancing and retaining a diverse workforce. The 

following six variables are key to assessing the state of diversity in today’s IC environment. These 

variables include: 

• Leadership 

o Diversity Optics

o Leadership Skills

o EEO/Diversity Leadership Practices

• Organizational Culture/Work Environment

o Workplace Diversity

o Perceptions of “Tokens and Quotas” – Racial and Gender Stereotypes

o Hierarchical Structures

• Recruitment and Selection

o Need for Diversity in Recruiting Sources

o Need for Cultural Sensitivities in Recruiting

• Advancement

o Promotion/Opportunities

o Mentoring

o Key Assignments/Joint Duty Assignments/Career Development 

• Work/Life Integration

o Flexible Work Arrangements

o Paid Family Leave 

• Persons with Disabilities

o Facilities and Assistive Technologies

o The Employment Cycle: Recruitment, Career Development and Advancement

o The Reasonable Accommodation Process

o Self-Reporting of Disabilities

Content Analysis Part I. Data points were reviewed from each interview and focus group question. 

Common phrases, words and themes were noted and tracked to see what key observations emerged. 

Collective data by agency or IC element was next reviewed. Commonalities were noted and tracked to see 

what themes emerged. Data was then reviewed according to groups of interest (women, minorities, and 

persons with disabilities) to see if observations or themes differed between question-level and full agency 

data.

Content Analysis: Part II. The data and findings were then placed into the larger organizational context 

of the agency or IC element. As much as possible, sources were noted (i.e., data report, interview, focus 

group). Some data naturally fell into more than one category. Coding and other techniques were used to 

avoid attributing specific experiences to any particular individual. This approach helped place the data in 

the larger agency and IC functioning and context, which led to findings, and eventually recommendations, 

that holistically address the IC’s need for useful insights on workforce diversity and workplace inclusion. 
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APPENDIX C: FURTHER OBSERVATIONS OF THE IC’S CURRENT DIVERSITY 

ENVIRONMENT: WORKPLACE CONCERNS SPECIFIC TO HISPANICS AND 

AFRICAN-AMERICANS

To add context and perspective to this report’s earlier section IV. Observations of the IC’s Current 

Diversity Environment, following is a summary of observations from the data analysis of responses by 

Hispanic and African-American employees to perceptions of workplace challenges. These trends were 

highlighted by the Hispanic and African-American participants in the study,

191 collected through focus 

groups, interviews, and attendance at Employee Resource Group meetings, and are included here to 

provide context for the IC-wide observations found in this report. 

Responses from the Hispanic Community within the IC Workforce

Recruiting, Hiring and Retention 

Recruiting and Education 

Qualifications. Input from Hispanic 

participants expressed concern for the 

recruiting process being reflective of 

issues pertinent to the Hispanic 

community. Recruiting in Hispanic 

communities requires the establishment of 

trusted relationships—not only between 

the recruiting agency and the potential 

employee but also with the potential 

employee’s school representatives and 

even their family. These relationships 

cannot be established immediately and 

expected to be successfully formed after 

one recruiting visit to a historically 

Hispanic school. IC agencies and 

recruiting officials must make a multiyear investment in grooming contacts to 

act as Hispanic recruitment advocates. In 

the face of more lucrative opportunities –

especially for high-demand qualifications 

(STEM) —the IC must be viewed as the 

more trusted option to potential 

candidates. 

Career Development, Key Assignments 

and Advancement

Recruiting and Education 

Qualifications. Input from the Hispanic community responses also expressed concern for the process of 

career development within the IC. Language barriers, smaller networking circles, and the perception of 

being ‘outside’ consideration for key assignments are all seen as persistent challenges to achieving one’s 

 191 These responses were extracted from the data collected for Phase II of this study, which covered the Big Six Intelligence 

Agencies.

“I was 27 years old and married, and I still had to ask my 

parents before I took the job at (this agency).” – Hispanic 

Female

“(This agency) must approach recruiting as more of a 

partnership; need long-term relationships to build trust. 

Having faces that look like them will help. Parents want to 

know that other Latinos and families will embrace their kids 

after they move away for work, that they will not be alone.” 

– Hispanic Female

“Recruiting approaches need to be more strategic. Myths 

about (this agency) exist; unless you build trust, you cannot 

dispel these myths. . . Recruiting must provide a consistent, 

sustained message and get away from the short-term Return 

on Investment (ROI) mindset.” – Hispanic Male

“Trust is huge for the Latino community. We need to develop 

relationships with students in high school and college . . . to 

recruit them.” – Hispanic Male

“The pool of Latinos with college degrees in STEM majors 

is quite small. Recruiters' sole focus on STEM cuts out a 

large number of Latinos. In addition, the IC competes with 

corporations that pay more and may have bonuses. Add that 

to the location and family factor – these are they key drivers 

for low numbers of Latinos in the IC.” – Hispanic Male
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full potential in the IC. According to some 

Hispanic participants, having an accent 

presents further obstacles to receiving the 

professional credit deserved within the IC. 

With a smaller workforce of Hispanic 

employees, establishing and maintaining 

trusted networks is more difficult. Senior 

leaders from the Hispanic community are 

seen as an essential component to this 

equation. Hispanic leaders are viewed as 

a must for advocating for other rising 

Hispanic employees in order to receive 

the necessary visibility into advantageous 

Joint Duty Assignments, guidance on 

promotion packages and providing career 

advice on how to qualify for Service 

School recommendations. Without 

Hispanics in positions to influence these 

key advancement decisions, rising 

Hispanic employees may feel a loss of 

connection, a lack of attention to their 

advancement, and be more apt to leave 

the IC. 

Equal Employment Opportunity, Culture and Inclusion

Family, Trust and Culture. Hispanic Community responses have a heavy focus on family. 

Understanding the Hispanic cultural 

histories, values and beliefs in the 

importance of families is integral in 

being successful in reaching out and 

retaining this demographic inside the 

IC. The work environment becomes a 

family, where inherent trust and loyalty 

issues become equally as important. 

There are additional issues of trust that 

are especially important to Hispanic 

communities in a sensitive 

compartmented environment. 

Traditional IC attitudes necessary to 

protect intelligence operations may be 

viewed with distrust, which may bleed 

into other workplace interactions. When 

working with the Hispanic culture, 

which places such heavy emphasis on 

building relationships of trust, 

supervisors and managers must have 

heightened awareness of fostering trust 

to achieve full potential and retention in 

this community. The lack of trust may 

“I have not been promoted in ten years. When I first came to 

the US, I studied on a scholarship at Texas A&M. I earned a 

masters and Ph.D. degree.” – Hispanic Male

“I'm a licensed attorney, but I am currently a GS-12. You 

will not find another licensed attorney at GS-12. I believe in 

the mission. It keeps me here.” – Hispanic Female

“Latinos are not a homogenous group, but we are linked or 

bonded by family, religion, and Spanish language." –

Hispanic male

“The Latino population is very big on trust. A Nicaraguan 

student came up to me and asked how she could work for 

(this agency). "Don't you know what they did to our 

people?" I told her I like to think that having more diversity 

around the table would keep that from happening again.” –

Hispanic Female

“One year my feedback was that my communication skills 

were lacking. I speak Spanish, have an accent, and 

mispronounce some words. They promoted someone that 

didn't even have the technical expertise or [was in 

compliance with] DoD policy.” – Hispanic Male

“The cultural knowledge becomes a huge advantage in the 

analytic field. We understand the cultural and language 

nuances of the region. However, if your first language is 

Spanish, Portuguese, or Creole, for example, writing in 

English is more difficult for you and it becomes more 

difficult to advance.” – Hispanic Male

“Bias is a factor. . . With regard to minorities, those at the top 

want to pick someone like them ---someone who has your 

same values, acts like you, looks like you. If someone limps 

or speaks with an accent, those at the top do not want that in 

their group. The Agency talks about needing diversity of 

thought. But after symposiums and conferences about 

diversity and inclusion, the effects last about 48 hours, and 

then everyone reverts to old habits.” – Hispanic Male
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be impacting both recruitment and retention of Hispanic employees across the IC, as reflected in Figure 

A.10, which compares the Hispanic representation in the IC to other population benchmarks.

Figure A.10. Hispanic Representation in the IC Compared to Other Population Benchmarks (FY 2015)

Participation Limitations and Other Issues

Hispanic Under-Representation in Focus Groups. As detailed in the methodology of this report, despite 

diligent efforts, Hispanics as a group were underrepresented in the study’s volunteers for focus groups. 

While a certain degree of this under-representation may be attributed to the low percentage of Hispanics 

in the IC workforce (according to the recently published ODNI 2015 Annual Demographic Report, the 

percentage of Hispanic employees in the IC work force is 5.7%, 8.4% of the federal workforce, and 

14.2% of the civilian workforce), there may also be other hidden underlying reasons for this lack of 

participation. Some Hispanic volunteers who did attend the focus groups expressed trust issues: would 

participation in the focus group be viewed negatively by their supervisor? Others may have declined to 

participate due to feeling that it would not make a difference. One Hispanic participant indicated that he 

had gone to previously held focus groups, and nothing had changed as a result.

Some Hispanic volunteers who did attend the focus groups indicated a reluctance to “check the race box” 

on EEO self-identification forms. Theories on why this IC trend exists vary, but what is clear is that it 

mirrors a broader social trend seen across industry that Hispanics sometimes avoid self-identifying 

race/ethnicity. Some within the Hispanic community, particularly Hispanic Heritage Americans, 

expressed reluctance to designate race/ethnicity because of skepticism over how the information would be 

handled: ‘Will it be used to discriminate against me?’ This concern seems to indicate that there is a 

perceived racial bias toward first-generation immigrants if they release this information. One interviewee 

in the study shared that she could “pass for white” and did not disclose her ethnicity until she’d reached a 

certain level of achievement in her career. Other indications are that the term “Hispanic” may be too 

broad—the community considers itself a very diverse mix of identities that may not ‘fit’ into one specific 

demographic box. 

Language Barriers. For many Hispanic employees, English is not their first language. At times, there are 

struggles with translation and perception issues in the workplace because of this. Although this may be 

seen as an added insight into cultural and language issues inherent with some target sets, in many ways, 

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

U.S. Population Civilian Labor

Force

Federal

Workforce

Total IC

Hispanic Representation in the IC Compared to 

Other Population Benchmarks (FY 2015)
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language issues pose communication challenges with leadership and peers and the ability to interact in the 

work environment.

Clearance Issues. Security clearance 

processes are cumbersome for everyone. 

However, in many minority work 

populations, especially those that are firstgeneration American or who have strong 

familial ties to other countries, like the 

Hispanic community, these issues can be 

especially daunting. Within the Heritage 

American/first generation community, 

there is a perception held of 

discrimination in the security clearance 

process because of the longer length of 

time it takes for cases to be completed. In 

actuality, this may not be discrimination, 

but rather a legitimate requirement: 

having to check additional foreign contacts of friends and family members requires, on average, an 

additional 6-8 weeks. Communicating this difference in expected length of processing time in order to set 

expectations appropriately continues to be a challenge.

Responses from the African-American Community within the IC Workforce

Recruiting, Hiring and Retention 

Recruiting and Education Qualifications. A widely held perception among African-Americans across 

the IC is that recruiting efforts are focused on certain predominantly white schools and other 

predominantly white recruiting sources, while many African-American candidates get overlooked. 

Despite the IC highlighting increased efforts to visit HBCUs, some within the African-American 

community retain the perception that these visits are sub-par, or are handled in a way that minimizes their 

results. This perception is promulgated by the lack of African-Americans holding positions of seniority 

within the IC. Many expressed the dismal feeling of looking around their organization and finding other 

African-Americans only in lower lever support positions. 

“The paperwork for foreign contacts is an added hassle. 

Latinos and Asians are heavily impacted.” – Hispanic Male

“Why is it that when I go overseas, go to Europe for instance, 

that I am called ‘an American’, but here in America, I’m 

called ‘Hispanic’?” – Hispanic Male 

“I’m light-skinned. I was ‘white enough’...I could pass for 

white. It wasn’t until later in my career that I felt 

comfortable self-identifying as Hispanic.” – Senior 

Interviewee, Hispanic Female
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Leadership’s repeated message of the 

importance of promoting diversity rings 

hollow. The impact of these visuals sends 

a far louder message of the relative 

importance, the perception of ability, and 

the probability of achieving certain 

positions for African-Americans within 

this environment. 

Leadership and Leadership 

Accountability

Workplace Environment. AfricanAmerican employees, like their Hispanic 

counterparts, repeatedly expressed issues 

of distrust of leadership. As the primary 

responsibility for fostering attitudes of 

inclusion and diversity rests with 

workplace supervisors and front-line 

managers, when employees experience 

less-than-optimal diversity or inclusion 

issues, they hold management 

responsible. Despite early-career 

optimism in agency leadership to build 

and endorse fair workplace environments, 

many African-Americans expressed a 

heightened sense of disappointment when 

those environments later demonstrated a 

perceived lack of accountability of leadership. To foster inclusion, managers need cultural awareness 

training and sensitivity to correctly gauge existing environments and the appropriate responses. Across 

the African-American community, like the Hispanic community and the IC workforce at large, passion 

for and commitment to mission resonated. Some within the African-American community seemed to 

hold the IC to a higher standard, and were therefore even more disappointed to come to the realization 

that the same societal inequities were mirrored within this workforce. The broken trust from this 

disappointment resonated among focus group participants. 

“Recruitment teams (should) go to other colleges; expand 

recruiting sources. Minorities often can't/don't attend the 

colleges that recruiters visit.” – African-American Male

“Even if you pass (along candidate resumes and 

recommendations), they don't get hired. I passed along three 

excellent people that had experience and advanced degrees. 

Two were African-American and one was Asian. They didn't 

even get interviews.” – African-American Female

“I'd love to see (this agency) target HBCUs to tap into those 

resources. They do college trips from time to time and 

probably go to a handful of HBCUs. I bet it's not a one-forone deal. Go to Stanford, then go to Howard. There may be 

a disparity in the visits between the two types of institutions.” 

– African-American Male 

“I was told they do go to HBCUs, but the response hasn't 

been as good as at the other schools. . . I kept hearing about 

UMD (College Park). I asked--"What about UMES (Eastern 

Shore), and other local HBCU schools?" I was told the 

response from those schools has not been as great as the 

others.” – African-American Female
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While not an exhaustive list, this 

collection of findings serves to highlight 

some of the perceived workplace barriers 

faced by Hispanics and AfricanAmericans employees. Individual IC 

agencies and elements are making efforts 

to address these challenges. Many have 

deployed a number of different initiatives 

aimed at cultivating a more diverse and 

inclusive workforce. However, despite 

these efforts, persistent workplace 

challenges continue to hinder Hispanics 

and African-Americans working in the IC 

today.

“I came in with a bunch of white males from the same 

school. During our first two months, one of them told me the 

branch chief walked up to him and told him they were going 

to promote him. –African-American Female

“I have to be careful not to be perceived as an angry black 

man.” – African-American Male

“During my first two months, I was sitting at a desk. Two 

white females were behind me, talking. They were looking 

for a black toner cartridge. One said, ‘do you see any black 

ones?’ referring to the toner cartridge. The other one said, 

‘No, we don't have any black ones here.’ and she was 

pointing at my back.” – African-American Female

“Here's the best retention tool DIA has: a poor economy. 

There aren't a lot of jobs out there and the other government 

agencies aren't hiring. DIA knows that. Where else are you 

going to go?” – African-American Male

“Everyone has an agenda or goals. But it is how we reach 

our goals that is very important. We can achieve our goals 

and help other people along the way. If you are in a 

leadership position, you should lead and be a mentor. [You 

should not] step on people to get where you want to get.” –

African-American Female

“We had a division chief that recently came in and said "the 

good old boy system is gone." That means leadership was 

aware that there was a perception of a good old boy system. 

Well, it's not gone. It's still there. . . Why even invest any 

energy into making change?” – African-American Male

“Someone hung a (racially insensitive item in the 

workplace). A black woman came to me and said "I'm deeply 

offended by that." I tried to take it down, but it was up too 

high. I didn't know who put it up. I asked EEOD (for 

assistance with) the issue. EEOD responded and asked for 

details, but nothing further was done.” – African-American 

Female
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APPENDIX D: FEDERAL EEO COMPLAINT PROCESS 

Following in Figure A.11 is an overview of the federal EEO complaints process.

Figure A.11 Overview of the Federal Complaints Process
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APPENDIX E: NOTIFICATION TO AGENCY LEADERSHIP

Following is the formal tasking notification for this project that was sent to Agency EEOD leaders. The 

names of individual EEO Council members and project team members and the dates of specific project 

actions have been removed.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Chief, Intelligence Community Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity

Washington, DC 20511

 MEMORANDUM FOR: DISTRIBUTION

Subject: Analysis and Report of Barriers to the Hiring, Retention and Development of Women, 

Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in the Intelligence Community

Background:

In 2014, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) updated the National Intelligence 

Strategy (NIS), which provides the IC with mission direction for the next four to five years. Within its 

framework, the NIS set a goal for the IC to “build a more agile, diverse, inclusive, and expert workforce”. 

Within ODNI, the IC Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity (EEOD) office conducts oversight 

and sets policy for the development and implementation of a broad range of initiatives and programs 

designed to foster fairness, equality, inclusion, and diversity across the IC. For the past 10 years we as a 

community have been responding to a Congressionally Directed Action to produce the “Annual Report on 

the Hiring and Retention of Minority Employees in the IC.” This is an IC-wide collaboration and 

integration of all 17 agencies and components accomplishments to identify areas of under-representation 

of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

To further these important goals and efforts of the IC, the ODNI EEOD office has commissioned [the 

project team] to conduct this project and produce a report to identify barriers towards hiring, retention and 

career development of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities, and develop recommendations 

for addressing any of these barriers and their impact to career advancement of these groups. The ODNI 

Office of IC EEOD requests your assistance in providing workforce data addressing IC diversity, to 

include women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. Your assistance is also requested in the 

identification of executive leaders for participation in structured interviews and encouraging workforce 

volunteers to participate in focus groups. Recipients of the finished report include the Director of National 

Intelligence (DNI), the IC EEOD and the members of the IC Equal Employment Opportunity and 

Diversity Council (here after referred to as the Council). 

Guidance:

1. The documentation here listed should be provided to [Senior Advisor], the IC EEOD point of 

contact (POC) listed below. We request that the information supplied by agencies and 

components be in an unclassified format where possible and sent via the listed POCs unclassified 

email address. If information cannot be supplied in an unclassified format then those with access 

to secure email systems should send responses via IC E-mail; others should send via courier to 

the address indicated.

• MD 715 reports (2009-2014)

• Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plans (2009-2014)

• Federal Employment Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) Reports (FY09-FY14). 

If your agency or component does not produce FEORP Reports then please disregard.
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• Any individual agency or component studies conducted on women, minorities, or persons 

with disabilities (e.g., a Barriers Analysis study)

2. The membership of the Council is requested to function in the capacity of the agency and 

component POCs for this project. In order to conduct this Report we request the Council 

members perform the following: 

• Send notification out to your agency or component’s leadership for endorsement (the 

agency’s Director or Deputy Director) and explain the details of the study (a sample letter 

is included as attachment A)

• Send notification out to your agency or component workforce to explain the study, and 

generate interest in it and request volunteer participants for the focus groups (a sample 

letter is included as attachment B)

• Identify two senior-leaders in your agency and notify them that they will be contacted by 

[the project team] to request each participate in 1-hour personal interviews for the study. 

You (or your designated representative), as Council representative for your agency or 

component will also be expected to participate in a 1-hour personal interview.

3. The Project Team will coordinate one-on-one with each identified individual to arrange interview 

times appropriate for their schedules. Two or three contractors along with [Senior Advisor] from 

the IC EEOD will be present during the focus group and interviews. One contractor will facilitate 

the discussion, and the other(s) will take notes to produce a reasonably accurate record of the 

information discussed. The study team will categorize or “code” like responses to remove details 

that might point to a specific individual. There will be “no” personally identifiable information 

captured on individuals who participate in the study.

4. The membership of the Council is requested to encourage focus group participation and to 

provide contact information for volunteers to contact the contracting team-lead directly at: [xx] or 

[xx] to elect their interest in participating. In smaller agencies or components, it is possible that 

there may be a less than desired number of volunteers to ensure the focus group is truly 

representative of the desired demographic. If additional representation is needed it is requested 

that all employee names representing the underrepresented demographic be supplied to [the 

project team] when or if possible to enable [the project team] to contact these individuals directly 

to determine additional final participants. Participation in the focus group is a completely 

voluntary process and the method of contact employed by [project team] would be a group email, 

sent out to every name supplied by that agency or component, simply reinforcing the request for 

volunteer participants. There will be no coercion to participate applied in this process.

5. There are no penalties for participation or non-participation.

6. Focus groups are to be held offsite (but near the workplace) to encourage participants to be open.

7. Participants’ time is to be considered official work time and is reimbursable just as in 

participating in a working group, etc.

8. Focus groups will be conducted separately for Managers (GS-13 to GS-15) and for NonManagers (GS-12 and below).
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Suspense Dates:

The requested agency or component reports (e.g., MD-715, FEORP) and data must be provided to the IC 

EEOD no later than [date]. 

A [project team] member will contact and meet with each agency and component POC within 2 weeks of 

this notification. The purpose of this meeting is to allow an open-forum for questions or concerns 

surrounding this study and our interactions with internal personnel. 

A [project team] member will contact each Council member and designated senior-leader between [dates]

to schedule a personal 1-hour meeting at a time convenient for both parties. The interview will be 

conducted between [dates] (for ODNI) and [dates] (for the remaining 16 organizations).

The initial focus groups and interviews will be conducted for ODNI and will be conducted between 

[dates].

Interviews and Focus Groups for the remaining 16 organizations will begin [dates] and completed by 

[date] so all participants must have been identified in advance to enable scheduling.

Teleconference:

At the [date] IC EEOD Council teleconference, [Senior Advisor, IC EEOD] along with representatives 

from the [project team] will be online to answer any questions related to the study.

Points of Contact:

Organization Principals

ODNI Chief, IC EEO and Diversity (IC EEOD)

Deputy Chief, IC EEOD

Air Force Director, Air Force Equal Opportunity

DCS Manpower, Personnel and Services

Army Director For EEO Modernization

Army EEO and Diversity Initiatives

CIA Deputy, Diversity and Inclusion Office

Deputy Director, Diversity and Inclusion Office 

Director, Office of EEO

Coast Guard Chief, USCG Intelligence and Workforce Management Division 

DEA EEO Officer

DIA Chief, Equal Opportunity (EO)

DHS Deputy Officer, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties & Director EEO 

and Diversity Programs

DOE Director, Human Resources Analyst

Chief of Office

FBI Assistant Director, Office of EEO Affairs

Section Chief, Human Resources Division, Diversity & Inclusion Section

Marine Corps Assistant Director for Workforce Development

Navy Chief, Human Capital Office

EEO Officer, EEO and Diversity Office

NGA Director, Office of Diversity Management and EEO
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Deputy Director, Office of Diversity Management and EEO

NRO Director, Office of EEO & Diversity Management

NSA Director, EEOD

Deputy Director, EEOD

State INR Director of the Office of Civil Rights and Chief Diversity Officer

Deputy Director, Office of Civil Rights

Treasury Director, Civil Rights and Diversity

Associate Director for Women an Inclusion

USDI Director, Human Capital Management

Senior Strategist for Personnel

The IC EEOD point of contact is [Senior Advisor], IC EEOD. Please contact him directly for 

clarification on this task. Submissions should be addressed to:

Senior Advisor, IC EEOD 

IC Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Tech Building, Room 210-L

Washington, DC 20511

Business Support Analyst

Tech Building, 200-J-02

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Washington, DC 20511

We look forward to working with you on this project and with your assistance we will have better enabled 

the IC to realize the NIS goal to “build a more agile, diverse, inclusive, and expert workforce.” 

Sincerely,

 - signed -

Chief, IC EEOD
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APPENDIX F: POOL OF QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWS AND FOCUS GROUPS

The following is a representative list of questions used during the semi-structured interviews with senior 

leadership, the Employee Resource Group (ERG) meetings with individuals from under-represented 

demographic groups, the additional non-senior interviews, and the focus groups with the workforce to 

discuss each stage of the employment process. These questions were designed to elicit experiences and 

perspectives regarding women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. 

Analyzing Employment Processes

Senior Leadership Questions

1. How does EEO compliance differ from workforce diversity and inclusion initiatives?

2. What does the current representation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities within the 

IC look like? 

a) Are workforce participation rates substantially similar to those rates in the relevant civilian labor 

force (RCLF)?

b) Where there are variations, in what specific area(s) is the variation occurring (e.g., particular job 

category, particular grade, particular Directorates/Offices, etc.)?

3. Are you familiar with any specific examples of a member of these diverse groups felt excluded from 

the [IC/Agency]’s important mission? How did you learn of these instances? 

4. In what ways are senior executives and managers held accountable for supporting the DNI’s vision 

for a diverse workforce in the IC?

5. What issues or challenges, if any, do you believe the IC should address related to recruiting, hiring, 

retention, and advancement for women, minorities, and persons with disabilities?

a) How would you prioritize these issues or challenges? How did you come to this view?

6. Describe EEO’s role throughout the civilian workforce process (recruiting, selection/hiring, 

advancement, retention, separation).

Recruiting and Hiring

1. What criteria are considered in the development of the agency recruitment plan? 

a) In what ways does the plan consider disabilities, and targeted disabilities in particular?

2. How well do current recruitment sources yield the expected rate of qualified applicants of all racial 

and national origin groups, and both sexes, who meet organizational needs?

3. In what ways does recruitment literature reflect, or not reflect, the [IC or Agency]’s desire to reach all 

segments of the potential workforce? 

4. Do Agency leaders (seniors, managers) make themselves available to community, civic, and other 

groups interested in enhancing equal employment opportunity? If yes, how? [Examples: outreach to 

local schools, cooperative education programs, career information programs, intern programs]

5. Are the selection requirements and procedures for initial hires job-related and consistent with 

business necessity? 
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6. Describe the presence of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities within the senior executive 

ranks of the [IC/Agency]. 

a) Describe the presence... within the managerial ranks (GS-13 through GS-15).

b) What is EEO’s role in selection for management and executive positions?

Employee Development and Retention (including organizational culture)

1. Are there formal mentoring programs in place at [Agency]? How effective are these programs in 

supporting women, minorities, and people with disabilities?

2. How do employees learn about pathways to advancement? 

3. Are there work-related events (e.g., offsite meetings, team building) which, because of the type of 

activity or location, hindered participation by employees with disabilities?

4. What reasonable accommodations have you seen implemented for someone with disabilities? Does 

this person work in your Directorate/Office?

5. Do supervisors at [Agency] work well with employees of different backgrounds, gender, race, and 

ethnicity? Please describe examples you have witnessed. 

6. Do you believe you are treated respectfully without regard to your race, gender, age, disability status, 

sexual orientation, or cultural background? How did you come to this belief?

7. Has receiving particular awards become a criterion for selection to developmental opportunities? If 

so, please describe.

a) How are the award recipients selected? 

b) Are there written, objective criteria for awards?

c) Do particular groups receive awards more often than others? 

8. Do disciplinary actions affect selection for developmental opportunities and promotion?

a) How are disciplinary actions determined?

b) Are there written, objective criteria for assigning disciplinary actions? 

c) Do particular groups receive disciplinary actions more often than others? 

9. Describe the work-life balance policies and programs in place at [Agency]. 

a) Have these programs made a noticeable change in the composition of the workforce? If so, how?

b) How many people make use of these programs?

c) How does [Agency] culture respond to individuals that participate in these programs?

10. How would you change [Agency] to make the environment more welcoming and nurturing for 

women, minorities, and persons with disabilities? 

11. Describe the role of affinity groups in [Agency], and their effectiveness in influencing [Agency] 

leadership.

12. What training, detail assignments, or other experiences are key to advancement?

a) Which ones provide competency experience required for advancement to the SES level?

b) How are candidates for these developmental opportunities identified and selected?

c) What are the internal selection requirements and procedures for these opportunities? Are these 

requirements job-related and consistent with business necessity? 
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d) Were the opportunities provided in the last fiscal year balanced across all parts of the workforce? 

If not, which group(s) were less utilized than others, and why?

13. Describe the characteristics of individuals who are promoted to the senior executive level.

a) What training, development, and experiences were most beneficial? 

b) Which were least beneficial?

c) What role did formal mentoring play in their development? 

14. How does [your Agency] ensure that appropriate training and other developmental opportunities are 

available to employees at all grade levels, including management and executive training, and in all 

occupational areas, without regard to race, national origin, sex or disability?

Promotion and Advancement

1. Under what circumstances does [Agency] recruit external candidates for management, executive, or 

SES positions? 

2. For career-ladder promotions, is there a difference in time with which one or more groups achieve 

their full grade potential as compared to other groups (i.e., is the time-in-grade longer for a particular 

group)?

3. Are employees achieving full performance for their occupation at similar rates with others of different 

race, national origin, sex or disability?

4. How are promotion selection panels composed when they are used? What is EEO’s role in the 

selection panels?

5. Are internal promotion qualification requirements and procedures job-related and consistent with 

business necessity? 

6. Are there a number of EEO complaints where non-promotion is identified as the issue? If yes, is there 

an identifiable trend (e.g., particular group, supervisor, or installation)? 

Separation from Government Employment in the IC

1. What is the workforce distribution of separations, including disability retirement, for the last 

fiscal year (grade, occupation, installation, race, sex, national origin, disability, EEO 

participation, etc.)?

2. Are exit interviews conducted at [Agency]? If not, why not? If yes, how does [Agency] use the 

exit interview data?

3. Were any trends identified as to why people left [Agency]? 

(e.g., harassment, perceived barriers to advancement, more money, atmosphere of agency, 

because of particular supervisor, personal reasons)

4. How does [Agency] ensure that separations are conducted fairly and in a non-discriminatory 

manner? 

5. Have reductions-in-force been conducted at [Agency] in [timeframe]? If so, what procedures 

were used to ensure these reductions were carried out in a non-discriminatory manner? 
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APPENDIX G: INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY-WIDE AND AGENCY-SPECIFIC 

REPORTS

Following is a summary of the IC and ODNI-specific documents, EEO/Diversity and Inclusion Reports, 

Human Capital studies and analyses, and Strategic Plans reviewed for this report.

MD-715 Reports, ODNI, 2009 – 2014.

Annual Reports on Hiring and Retention of Minority Employees in the Intelligence Community (2009 – 2014) and 

Data Tables in support of the IC Annual Report, 2009 – 2014.

Annual Demographic Report: Hiring and Retention of Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities in the 

United States Intelligence Community Fiscal Year 2015.

Annual Reports on EEO Complaints Processing in the Intelligence Community (EEO 462 Reports), 2009 – 2014. 

Central Intelligence Agency. Director’s Diversity in Leadership Study: “Overcoming Barriers to Advancement.” 

2014.

Central Intelligence Agency. “Biases in Evaluation of Evidence.” www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-ofintelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/psychology-of-intelligence-analysis/art13.html. 2007.

Central Intelligence Agency. Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. 2016-2019.

Central Intelligence Agency. Unclassified Version of March 6, 2015 Message to the Workforce from CIA Director 

John Brennan: “Our Agency Blueprint for the Future.” https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releasesstatements/2015-press-releases-statements/message-to-workforce-agencys-blueprint-for-the-future.html. March 

2015.

Clapper, James R., Director of National Intelligence. Statement on Intelligence Community Equal Employment 

Opportunity and Diversity. November 2010.

Clapper, James R., Director of National Intelligence. Leading Intelligence Integration, 

http://www.dni.gov/index.php/about/mission.

Comprehensive Report on Activities Conducted in Support of the Evaluation of the National Intelligence Civilian 

Compensation Program, ODNI, Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), 2014.

CSI Agency Workforce Studies: Lessons Learned from the Workforce Development Initiative and the Director’s 

Advisory Group, June 2014.

Defense Intelligence Agency. Various studies with focus on: Hispanic Representation, Women, and Culture 

Initiatives.

Department of Homeland Security. Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, 2012-2015.

Department of Homeland Security. Five Year EEOD Strategic Plan, 2013.

Diversity: A National Security Imperative for the IC, DSAPIC 2004 Report.

Federal Bureau of Investigations. DPI Projects: Building a High Performance, Inclusive and Diverse Workforce.

Federal Bureau of Investigations. FBI Hispanic Recruitment, FY15.
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Federal Bureau of Investigations. Federal Employment Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) Progress 

Tracker, 2015.

Federal Employment Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) Report, ODNI, 2014.

Federal Employment Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP) Reports, 2009-2015. 

Intelligence Community Climate Survey Report, EEO-specific data, 2014.

Intelligence Community EEO and Diversity Strategic and Implementation Planning: Report on Plans to Increase 

Diversity within the Intelligence Community, ODNI Report from OLA, 2008 – 2012.

Intelligence Community EEO and Diversity Strategic Plan 2007 – 2012.

Intelligence Community Human Capital Plan, http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/CHCO/humancapitalplan2006.pdf, 2006.

Intelligence Community EEO and Diversity Enterprise Strategy 2015 – 2020.

Intelligence Community Human Capital Vision 2020 and Implementation Plan.

Literature Review and Benchmarking Study on the Evaluation of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Issues in Pay-forPerformance Systems, Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), 2014.

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Diversity and Inclusion Report, 2008-2012.

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. NGA Annual Report on Diversity in the Intelligence Community, 2014.

National Reconnaissance Office. Office of EEO and Diversity Management NRO (OEEO & DMNRO) Strategy and 

Implementation Plan, 2011.

United States Air Force. Annual Executive Summary of I&A’s Progress Compared to 15 Diversity Senior Advisor 

Panel for the Intelligence Community (DSAPIC) Recommendations. FY14.

United States Air Force. Various reports with focus on: Mentoring and Development Progress, Promising Practices, 

Strategic Activities for the Employment of Persons with Disabilities, Strategic Activities for the Advancement of 

Hispanic Employment, and Barrier Analysis Working Group charter and initiatives. FY14.

United States Air Force. US Air Force Executive Summary of the Intelligence Community EEO and Diversity 

Report. FY15.

United States Air Force. Air Force Diversity Strategic Roadmap, 2010.

United States Air Force. Air Force Diversity Strategic Roadmap, 2012.

United States Coast Guard. Continued Improvements Needed to Address Barriers to EEO GAO Report. 2015.
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