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Expanding the ranks
The intelligence community is looking for a few good first and second generation Americans.
By Dorothy Ramienski
Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has made it easier for intelligence agencies to hire first generation Americans with foreign relatives.
On Friday’s Daily Debrief, hosts Christopher Dorobek and Amy Morris spoke with ODNI’s Chief Human Capital Officer Ron Sanders, who says this is just one of many parts included in the 500 Day Plan.
One of the areas [Director Mike McConnell] wanted us to put a great deal more emphasis on was on hiring first and second generation Americans. In the Intelligence Community, the advantages of that are obvious. The native language speaking skills, the cultural awareness and sensitivity — we like to say in the IC that we not only need a workforce that looks like American, but one that can deal with all of the peoples and cultures of the world.
Sanders says it’s a matter of risk-management, as well.
While many in the IC believe it’s important to have people from all different cultures as part of the team, some have raised the point that this could pose a security risk.
We’re trying to strike a balance between the risk — not of these people inadvertently leaking information. Really the risk is that some insidious person would use a relative against and IC employee . . . literally hold them hostage or try to bring pressure to bear. . . . This new directive that Director McConnell has issued says we’ve got to balance the risk with the advantage of hiring first and second generation Americans. . . . It’ll be a matter of . . . taking precautions.
Once these recruits join the IC, Sanders says, steps will be taken to make sure there are no undue counter-intelligence risks.
That being said, Sanders notes, extensive background checks will still be carried out, just as they would for anyone entering the IC.
ODNI and other intel agencies are looking to fill mission-critical jobs, such as intelligence analysts.
Sanders says this is where first and second generation Americans could have an advantage over those who come from families who have been in the U.S. Longer.
In some cases, if they’re born with that language-speaking ability and are brought up with that cultural awareness, that’s a significant strategic advantage. That is one of the huge advantages that the United States’ diverse population gives us.
The ODNI has also created the Heritage Community Liaison Council, made up of about 17 different cultural organizations, in an effort to reach out to specific communities, such as those that speak Arabic, for recruitment.
We hope to gain the trust of these organizations and, through them, the trust of their communities so that intelligence agencies are welcome when we recruit. Remember this — in many of these countries, ‘intelligence agency’ is a dirty word — something to fear and mistrust and we don’t want that of American citizens.
The IC is hoping that, overall, this directive will attract more members of immigrant communities. There is a bit of a problem, though, when it comes to pinning down specific numbers.
[Recruitment] falls under the broader heading of civil rights law, so we can’t . . . seek to hire quotas of Arab-Americans than we could African-Americans. On the other hand, just as every federal agency has programs in place to reach out to the African-American community and African-American applicants, Hispanic applicants, etcetera, that’s something we want to begin doing now with an even broader definition of diversity — Arab-American, Pakistani-American, Indian-American, etcetera.
Sanders says, by law, ODNI is forbidden from collecting statistics on groups such as Arab-Americans, because current rules stipulate that they are “white.”
I happen to be a second-generation Arab-American. I am coded as white under current rules. I’m working with the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget, which controls federal forms, to see if there’s not a way that we can at least begin collecting anonymous, voluntary statistics on the national ancestry of our applicants and our employees so we can at least gauge what sort of progress we’re making.
Sanders says the ability to understand how well the IC attracts members of certain minority communities could lead to better national security.
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On the Web:
ODNI — 500 Day Plan (pdf)
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