US spies, including members of the CIA, have been told the term “blacklist” is racist and “sanity check” disparages people suffering from mental health problems in a new internal letter on diversity.
The latest guide, which also included tips from a cross-dressing secret agent, was revealed in The Dive, a newsletter published by the intelligence community’s office of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.
According to Fox News, which reviewed the document, it is full of diversity guidance intended to “focus on ways spy agencies can be more inclusive.”
The document’s theme revolves around “the importance of words” and is replete with phrases that officials have now been urged to refrain from using.
One of the bulletin’s six articles – on “linguistic diversity” – has highlighted the alleged racist connotations around the term “blacklist”.
The latest guide, which also included advice from a transvestite secret agent, was revealed in The Dive.
This is because it implies that “black is bad and white is good.”
The term “sanity check” has also been discouraged because it suggests that those with mental illness are inferior.
The terms “cakewalk” and “grandfather” also appeared in the article due to their association with slavery.
In another section of the bulletin, an intelligence office warned that previous training had confused Islamic beliefs with terrorism and warned about language directed at the spies’ Muslim-American colleagues.
The author further detailed an effort to review intelligence presentations to eliminate problematic language.
The Dive’s editor-in-chief, who remained anonymous in the online version of the document, also wrote a section of the 16-page booklet.
They described how new resource groups for Asian and Pacific Islander employees have been successful in “creating a new framework and linguistic guidelines for talking about the People’s Republic of China.”
In another article on “gender identity,” an intelligence officer who remained anonymous revealed that his secret habit of cross-dressing has improved his skills in his job.
“I am an intelligence officer and I am a man who sometimes likes to wear women’s clothing,” the author wrote.
‘I believe my experiences as a transvestite have honed the skills I use as an intelligence officer, particularly critical thinking and perspective taking.
“For some people it is a challenge to understand cross-dressing and non-binary or gender-fluid people because gender is part of the overall identity,” she added.
“Many of us think that our identities are fixed, and some find this approach to gender threatening to their own identity.”
The officer said cross-dressing has helped him understand foreign actors, underground assets and how to better support his female and LGBTQIA+ colleagues.
The newsletter includes six articles: one on changing terminology related to counterterrorism, another on “linguistic diversity,” another on reinventing “how we talk about Africa,” a fourth highlighting the gender expression of an intelligence officer, one on accessibility in the combat zone and a final Article on the 6th Annual African American and Hispanic Leadership Summit.
The guidance received a hostile reception from Republicans who took to social media to criticize the Biden administration, with one calling it a “clown show” and another questioning how this will help intelligence gathering.
In response to The Dive’s publication, Arkansas Republican Senator and Armed Services Committee member Tom Cotton expressed concern about the document and questioned both the Biden administration and the intelligence community’s priorities.
“For the Biden administration to put DEI above national security is deeply troubling,” Cotton said Fox News.
Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton called the guidance “deeply troubling” and questioned the intelligence community’s priorities.
“Intelligence agents should spend their time finding terrorists, without worrying about whether they will offend them.”
Jeremy Hunt, a former Army intelligence officer and president of the national security-focused group Veterans On Duty, was also angry.
“Instead of our primary focus being protecting the homeland, these absurd attempts to control the language of intelligence assessments to make them politically correct will undoubtedly result in lower quality, inaccurate and confusing intelligence reports that leave policymakers and decision makers who are less informed and unable to make reasoned judgments,” he said.
However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stood firm and defended the guidance, which they say has the ultimate goal of “building a diverse and inclusive workforce.”
‘The Intelligence Community’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility manages the IC’s efforts to build a diverse and inclusive workforce and, as part of its work, distributes The Dive, a quarterly magazine, to the DEIA office of each element of the IC and/or Equal Employment Opportunities Office,” an ODNI spokesperson said.
