The CIA and Diversity: BBC

Numerous commissions have reviewed the activity leading up to the 9/11 attacks, hunting for strategies that might have prevented the threat. Of course, detecting threats in advance is challenging, but there were clues – reports of Saudi men attending flight school with no interest in landing. The problem may have been a systemic lack of diversity, notes Matthew Syed. The CIA has no trouble hiring top talent, accepting one of out of every 20,000 applicants some years. Yet recruits were mostly white, male and Protestant. “This is a common phenomenon in recruiting, sometimes called "homophily": people tend to hire people who think (and often look) like themselves,” he writes for BBC News. “It is validating to be surrounded by people who share one's perspectives and beliefs.” Intelligence analysis is complex, often requiring multiple perspectives. In early 2001, CIA officials could not imagine how a man living in a remote part of the world could threaten a superpower. Analysts familiar with Islamic culture might have understood that bin Laden viewed himself as a prophet, inspirational and strategic in a society increasingly uncomfortable with consumerism and foreign influences to the point of radicalization. Assessments from 2002 also suggested that intelligence agencies should diversify the agency’s skill requirements, including librarians who can “connect dots.” – YaleGlobal