For the first time, the Director of National Intelligence is releasing figures on the number of minorities working in Intelligence Community jobs. The unclassified report on minorities, women and disabled workers within the IC notes the struggle to attract and retain a diverse workforce. The IC lags behind both the federal government and the overall workforce. But DNI leadership hopes to change that.
“It is through leveraging diverse perspectives that we draw strength, increase engagement, unleash creativity and solve difficult challenges inherent to the IC’s mission,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in the release.
This is the first time the report has been published, but the demographic data has been provided in classified format to Congress for the past decade. The report includes information from six intelligence agencies and 11 intelligence components within the federal government, including the CIA, NSA and DHS intelligence branches.
The number of minorities in the IC increased from 23.2 percent in fiscal year 2011 to 24.9 percent in fiscal year 2015. This is below both the 35.3 percent of minorities in the federal workforce and the 32.5 percent of minorities in the overall workforce.
The DNI asked leaders to bring him proposals on how to improve diversity hiring, urging attendees of a recent equal employment leadership to ‘think big.’
The report includes agency highlights in diversity hiring. The CIA, for instance, conducted over 100 targeted outreach events in underrepresented communities. The NSA used workforce demographics to guide workforce actions, including hiring and promotions – meaning minority candidates had the edge on promotion and hiring decisions.
While the hiring of women decreased between 2011 dn 2015, their share of promotions and honorary awards outpaced the rest of the workforce, according to the report.
Diversity Hiring Best Practices
The report includes diversity hiring best practices.
- IC Virtual Career Fairs
- Employee Resource Groups
- Collaborative Recruitment Events
- Academic Grants
Agency highlights demonstrate how each of the above programs are being implemented to specifically address diversity hiring benchmarks. Charts further breakdown the workforce by pay grade and RNO (Race National Origin).
