Date: 2012-05-31
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman. I thank the ranking member as well. In closing. let me just pay tribute to Garrett Jones. who served as a CIA station chief in Somalia during peacekeeping operations in 1993 and was cited as an African American officer who was able to work undercover for weeks in North Mogadishu. which his duty officers said would have been all but impossible by Jones other officers. We all have a contribution to make. And I look forward to this sense of Congress not being weeded out in conference and reemphasizing the importance of this effort. With that I ask support of my amendment. and I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Chair. I rise to debate my amendment #7 to H.R. 5743 "Intelligence Authorization Act." which is a Sense of Congress that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency should take such actions as the Director considers necessary to increase the recruitment and training of ethnic minorities as officers and employees of the Central Intelligence Agency. The men and women who conduct this important work certainly deserve our support and all of the resources that we can muster to make sure that theyre successful in their endeavors. Yet. we must also ensure that the CIA itself reflects the American population and that of the world. Having agents who can be deployed anywhere at any time is vital to our national security. As is a diversity of thought and perspectives that can be garnered by having a diverse workforce. Historically there has been an exclusion of minorities. particularly African Americans and Latinos in the highest levels of national security. It has taken decades for minorities to make inroads into Americas national security apparatus. Although the number of CIA employees remains a classified secret. the agency has released some numbers over the years. In 1996 Blacks represented 10 percent of the CIAs total work force and only 3 percent of the agencys officers in senior intelligence service whereas 17 percent of the clerical staff and 22 percent of the agencys bluecollar work force was African American. In 1992 a declassified study of CIA personnel found that about half of all black intelligence officers reported that they had been victims of racial harassment by the agency. As of today the CIAs corps of case officers which is believed to number more than 1.000 and only 11 percent are minorities and 18 percent are women. The Majority of the agencys top managers are still predominantly White males. According to the CIA officials onethird of the new operations officers hired in 2011 have been women. While just 11 percent have been minorities as traditionally defined (African Americans. Asian Americans or Latinos). 20 percent of all new operations officers are native speakers of a foreign language and 75 percent have advanced proficiency in foreign languages. many because they have lived abroad. Almost half have advanced degrees. There have been improvements since 1992. however. more must and should be done to ensure that diversity is reflected at the highest levels of the CIA. The value of diversity in a spy service that operates in almost every country would seem to be obvious. Garrett Jones who served as CIA station chief in Somalia during peacekeeping operations in 1993. cited the example of an African American officer who was able to work undercover for weeks in north Mogadishu. which he said would have been all but impossible for Jones or any of the stations other white officers. As we must deploy CIA agents all over the world. We need agents that are able to blend into a variety of situations. We need diversity. Interest in working for the CIA rose after the Sept. 11 attacks. Between October 2001 and October 2002. the agency received 170.000 resumes. Since founding of Office of the Director of National Intelligence minority representation increased to nearly 23 percent in 2009 in FY 2009. up since FY05. when it was 20 percent. Minorities received nearly 25 percent of promotions in FY09 and over 27 percent of new hires were minority. Women earned 46 percent of promotions in FY09. significantly higher than their representation at about 39 percent. Letitia "Tish" Long is the first woman to head a major intelligence agency as director of the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency. the office responsible for collecting and analyzing overhead imagery and geospatial information. Women have held the #2 spot at several intelligence agencies. including National Security Agency. National Reconnaissance Office and NGA. CIA however has never had a woman as #2. but has had a woman in its #3 spot. My amendment is a reflection of the need to continue to place the spotlight on the intelligence community to ensure that they continue in their efforts to reflect the needs of this country by recruiting. training. and retaining qualified minorities.