CIA Director Mike Pompeo is an evangelical and, predictably, when one of these people gets appointed or elected to a post the evangelism frequently bleeds over into the workplace. It’s a basic tenet of evangelism that it must be shared, whether that’s a good idea or not, all things considered. At the CIA, where the work force must reflect not only the nation but the world in order to operate effectively, it’s an insane idea. Pompeo early on took a stance against Islamic terrorism, saying that Islamist terrorists will “continue to press against us until we make sure that we pray and stand and fight and make sure that we know that Jesus Christ is our savior is truly the only solution for our world.” From that auspicious beginning Pompeo is ramping up his efforts to convert the CIA to his version of “Christianity” starting with establishing a chaplaincy. Foreign Policy Magazine:
According to four sources familiar with the matter, Pompeo, who attends weekly Bible studies held in government buildings, referenced God and Christianity repeatedly in his first all-hands speech and in a recent trip report while traveling overseas. According to a profile by the Washington Post’s Greg Miller, Pompeo is working on starting a chaplaincy for the CIA campus like the military has.
Nothing like this took place during the Brennan years and it goes without saying that there is push back from within the Intelligence Community:
Michael Weinstein, a former Air Force officer who founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says he has been seeing increasing complaints from those inside the intelligence community. Weinstein’s foundation, which focuses on preventing religious pressure from creeping into the military, also has clients in the intelligence community, mostly from the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency. [...]
“In the intelligence community, we see supervisors wanting to hold Bible studies during duty hours [and] inviting lower-ranking individuals to their homes for Bible studies,” Weinstein told FP.
According to Weinstein, agency employees don’t want to go public with their complaints because of fear of retribution or being labeled as “leakers.” They don’t typically file formal complaints within the government. But certain things are making them especially uncomfortable, such as officials signing off with the phrase “have a blessed day.”
That’s something “straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale,” Weinstein said.
If religious salutations and Bible studies were the long and the short of it, that would be one thing, but it doesn’t end there. The big issue facing the CIA right now is Pompeo’s erosion of the diversity mandate which was thriving previously under Brennan.
In June, the intelligence community held its pride summit at FBI headquarters. Speakers included then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who said the intelligence community’s credibility derived from the importance it placed on diversity. “We all need to be allies, to walk in each other’s shoes, to try to understand what it’s like, for example, to be gay, a person of color, or transgender, or all of these at the same time,” he said in a keynote speech. [...]
Things changed quickly with President Donald Trump’s pick for CIA director, Mike Pompeo. A West Point graduate and former small-business owner, he never made a secret of his conservative social viewpoints during his time as a lawmaker. He has visited college campuses to talk about his disapproval of same-sex marriage, arguing that “the strength of these families having a father and a mother is the ideal condition for childbearing.” He has sponsored several pieces of legislation that would have weakened the rights of gay couples and supported organizations that champion those same beliefs.
During his very first all-hands speech to the CIA workforce, Pompeo cheered the officers and analysts, pledging to support them. But on the issue of diversity, Pompeo’s response raised concerns. According to two sources familiar with the speech, he was repeatedly asked about his commitment to diversity. After the third question, he visibly lost his temper. He snapped back, saying he didn’t know what people wanted him to do besides seek out the best person for the job, one source who was present at the speech recalled.
Seeking the best person for the job is frequently a dog whistle for hiring people similar to oneself. There’s a lot more here at stake than whether the annual Holiday party is a Christmas party. What’s at stake is having operatives that can fit into a world which is, fortunately or unfortunately, diverse. Mike Pompeo doesn’t seem to understand that and the CIA is suffering because of it.