The CIA has a dedicated program to recruit transgender people

Intelligence agency releases 3-year “diversity and inclusion strategy.”

The Central Intelligence Agency’s three-year-old “Diversity and Inclusion Strategy” includes a dedicated program to recruit transgender people and agency-wide “unconscious bias” training.

The planereleased by the CIA’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion last week, lays out several goals to “weave diversity and inclusion throughout the talent cycle.”

One of the agency’s goals is to “become an employer of choice” and includes “dedicated programs” to recruit every demographic imaginable.

“Cultivating an inclusive culture that fosters collaboration, flexibility, and equity allows all agents to contribute to their fullest potential,” the CIA plan said. “When employees feel included, have a voice, and are given opportunities to develop and maximize their potential, we create an organization of choice and become a model employer for all of America’s talent diversity.”

“We will continue to enrich our workforce by reaching out to diverse communities across the United States to meet our talent needs, with dedicated programs for citizens of African, Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, South Asian and Native American; lesbian, gay, bisexual. , and transgender people; people with disabilities; veterans; and women,” the CIA said.

Among the intelligence agency’s key actions toward that goal is teaching recruiting officers to “strengthen cultural competencies and combat unconscious biases.”

The CIA will measure its progress in recruiting minorities, LGBT people, veterans and women using an “inclusion index.” The agency will also track “diversity and gender breakdown of applicant flow data and hiring trends.”

CIA Director John Brennan said diversity and inclusion are “at the heart” of what the intelligence service is “set to do.”

“This three-year strategy renews and strengthens our focus on diversity and inclusion and puts us on a path to further enrich our workplace and fully leverage our talented workforce,” Brennan said. “Combining what we have in common with what each of us brings as unique individuals is a powerful recipe for success. This is the kind of agency our employees expect and deserve. Together we can make it happen “.

Maja M. Lehnus, the agency’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, said the plan allows for “an opportunity to weave diversity and inclusion deep into the fabric” of the CIA.

Consequently, another of the objectives of the three-year plan is “Weaving diversity and inclusion throughout the talent cycle”.

“Diversity and inclusion must become an integral part of our culture to position the Agency to compete for and retain top talent and cultivate a qualified bank of future leaders,” the plan states. “Deliberative processes combined with greater diversity and inclusion awareness will help combat unconscious biases and foster fair and equitable decision-making.”

“We will focus on consistent messages and standards about diversity and inclusion in our learning curriculum,” the agency said.

The CIA “will establish diversity and inclusion goals for programs focused on professional development, including mentoring, coaching, shadowing, and other experiences aimed at developing agents as CIA intelligence professionals “.

The CIA will also “deepen diversity and inclusion awareness” by providing agency-wide “unconscious bias training.”

The third goal is to “Increase Leadership Diversity.”

The CIA defined diversity as “the collection of individual attributes that together help agencies pursue organizational goals efficiently and effectively.”

“These include, but are not limited to, characteristics such as national origin, language, race, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, identity of gender, socioeconomic status, veteran status, and family structures.” said the CIA.