Study Overseen by Vernon Jordan '57 Finds CIA's Diversity Efforts Lacking

June 30, 2015

"The CIA has consistently failed to promote minorities into its leadership ranks and progress in building diversity at the top of the spy agency has largely stalled in the last decade, according to a CIA-commissioned report released on Tuesday," reports Reuters.  The study was commissioned by CIA Director John Brennan. "The study, overseen by prominent lawyer and civil rights activist Vernon Jordan, recommended Brennan 'promptly and aggressively' promote minority intelligence officers 'to positions that will send an unmistakable message of change.' "

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is a 1957 graduate of DePauw University.

Warren Strobel writes, "Racial and ethnic minorities make up almost 24 percent of the CIA workforce, but just 10.8 percent of the Senior Intelligence Service, the report found. "

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Vernon Jordan served as an adviser to President Bill Clinton and was executive director of the United Negro College Fund, Inc.; director of the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council; attorney-consultant, U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity; assistant to the executive director of the Southern Regional Council; and as Georgia Field Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. A political science major as an undergraduate, he is an advisory member of DePauw's Board of Trustees.

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