There are those here that believe that diversity for diversity sake has no value.
This article from the BBC offers a counter argument.:
The failure of the CIA to spot the warning signs of the 9/11 was mostly an argument between those who say ‘‘notoriously difficult to identity threats in advance, and that the CIA did everything they reasonably could.’’
There is another reason, ever since it’s founding, the a CIA ‘‘look very similar - white, male, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant Americans.’’ Almost with Ivy League educations
‘‘An inspector general’s study on recruitment found that in 1964, one branch of the CIA, the Office of National Estimates, "had no black, Jewish, or women professionals, and only a few Catholics.’’ By 1967 there were 20 black non-clerical staff.
Of course, there are no Muslim CIA employees.
‘‘Osama Bin Laden made his declaration of war on the United States from a cave in Tora Bora in February 1996. Images revealed a man with beard reaching down to his chest. He was wearing cloth beneath combat fatigues.’’
‘‘Today, given what we now know about the horror he unleashed, the declaration looks menacing. But an insider in the foremost US intelligence agency said the CIA “could not believe that this tall Saudi with a beard, squatting around a campfire, could be a threat to the United States of America”.’’
How can a man in a cave out-communicate the world’s leading communications society?" Richard Holbrooke
Bin Laden wore cloth because he was modelling himself after the prophet. His poses and postures, which seemed so backward to a western audience, were those that Islamic tradition ascribes its prophets. Even the cave is symbolic, Mohammad sought refuge in a cave after escaping his persecutors. All the symbols the CIA sees as backward, the Muslim world sees as holy references. If the CIA had a few Muslim employees they would not have missed this. A little diversity for diversity sake would have gone a long way.
‘‘By 2000, the “anti-modern, uneducated rabble” had swelled to an estimated 20,000, mostly college educated and with a bias towards engineering. Yazid Sufaat, who would go on to become one of al-Qaeda’s anthrax researchers, had a degree in chemistry and laboratory science. Many were ready to die for their faith.’’
‘‘Meanwhile, senior CIA official Paul Pillar (white, middle-aged, Ivy league), was discounting the very possibility of a major act of terrorism. “It would be a mistake to redefine counterterrorism as a task of dealing with ‘catastrophic’, ‘grand’ or ‘super’ terrorism,” he said, “when in fact these labels do not represent most of the terrorism the United States is likely to face”.’’
Although the CIA has tried to become more diverse since 9/11, a 2015 internal report wasn’t very promising.
John Brennan, Director: “The study group took a hard look at our agency and reached an unequivocal conclusion: CIA simply must do more to develop the diverse and inclusive leadership environment that our values require and that our mission demands.”
Now I know the one trick ponies, and coup conspiracy plotters will try to highjack this, not much to do about that, this is something that goes back decades, through many presidents.
Deflection. Didn’t read the article, did you?
