Catherine Herridge

We Obtain Internal FBI DEI Guide On Managing Unconscious Bias

Separately, as part of our investigation, recently retired FBI agents said they saw, firsthand, how law enforcement capabilities were compromised because merit took a backseat to DEI priorities. They dubbed the legendary FBI Quantico Training Academy the “Participation Academy” because of headquarter’s pressure to “push through” poorly performing candidates to meet their DEI objectives. The retired agents said FBI Director Patel inherits a workforce where standards dropped impacting physical fitness of agents, their firearms skills as well as professional qualifications, putting the FBI mission and safety at risk. DEEP DIVE More than a half dozen recently retired FBI agents agreed to speak with me on a confidential basis.  They said they feared retaliation for describing their experiences with the FBI’s DEI initiatives. While fiercely loyal to the bureau, they said they felt compelled to come forward, citing a dangerous reduction in standards that they believe endanger agents and the public. The group of retired agents was diverse.  It included male, female, Asian, Black and White agents from field offices in different parts of the country.  Their work experience covered multiple facets of the recruitment and training process. Everyone I spoke with offered a first hand account of DEI’s impact. FBI DEI Guide Defines “Unconscious Bias” The retired agents told me they valued diversity because it could strengthen the FBI mission but in recent years, the agents said FBI leadership took the attitude the bureau was “too White.”   The decline, they said, began under FBI Director Mueller who made the DC Headquarters his focus.  They said it accelerated under FBI Director Comey. They blamed Director Wray for standing by as the “train wreck happened.” “Ways To Manage Your Unconscious Bias” I was told that the physical fitness performance of candidates declined. The requirements include timed sit-ups (1 minute), timed 300-m sprint, untimed push-up maximum and timed 1.5 mile run. The retired agents described recruits who had an “attitude problem.” The recruits would quit the long distance run or claim injuries if they thought they would not pass a requirement.   The number of successfully completed push ups was routinely low because many recruits didn’t have the skill or strength to follow the required protocol (i.e bad form, not low enough.) What I learned about firearms training was also concerning.  I was told some recruits lacked the “mental toughness” to competently handle guns. Other candidates had documented mental health issues.  While their performance was poor, there was a “push them through Quantico attitude.” The backbone of FBI investigations is a witness interview summary known as a “302.”  In some cases, new agents lacked basic writing skills to complete a 302, in part, because work experience requirements had been relaxed.  Once poor performing recruits were “pushed through Quantico,” the hope was that FBI Field Offices would fix them. While the retired agents said diversity was valuable to the bureau it had taken precedence over merit. They said they looked up to the FBI when they joined and are hopeful Director Patel can restore and reverse this decline. These retired FBI agents are solution oriented and respectfully asked if Director Patel would be willing to meet with them because they understand where the change needs to happen internally. Describing how “woke broke the FBI,” one of the agents shared the wrenching personal decision to discourage their child from following in their professional footsteps. Something that would have been inconceivable during most of their time with the Bureau. FBI spokesman Ben Williamson said, ““Director Patel’s new FBI will be an entirely mission focused institution — working every day to get criminals off our streets, keep the American people safe, and let good agents be good agents. We are aggressively working to abide by any Presidential directive to root out politically motivated, social engineering projects — they have zero home here and never will as long as Director Patel is at the helm.” We are making this exclusive reporting free.   The full FBI DEI workplace guide is available to our subscribers.

Subscribe to our premium content to read the rest. Become a paying subscriber to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. Subscribe to Catherine Herridge Reports

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Emily Kopp

Several foreign embassies housed more Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents posing as genuine State Department officials between 1950 to 1960, according to a document found in the more than 63,000 pages relating to former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, released to the public by the Trump administration Tuesday evening.

CIA mission chiefs under diplomatic cover sometimes wielded more influence than the ambassadors, even advocating policies in conflict with official U.S. diplomacy, according to a June 10, 1961, memo. Kennedy was warned by historian Arthur Schlessinger Jr. in the document that CIA agents posing as State Department officials — so-called “Controlled American Sources” (CAS) — risked delegitimizing U.S. diplomacy.

“The effect is to further CIA encroachment on the traditional functions of State,” he wrote.

The CIA mission chief often exerted more power than the top diplomats, sometimes to conflicting ends, he said.

“On the day of President Kennedy’s inauguration, 47 percent of the political offices serving in United States Embassies were CAS,” the memo reads. “Sometimes the CIA mission chief had been in the country longer, has more money at his disposal, wields more influence (and is abler) than the Ambassador. Often he has direct access to the Prime Minister. Sometimes (as during a critical period [unreadable]) he pursues a different policy from that of the Ambassador. And he generally well known locally as the CIA representative.” (RELATED: Trump Administration Releases JFK Assassination Files)

Schlessinger’s 1961 memo to the president about the CIA — in which he advocated for a reorganization of the agency — had been of interest to historians and independent researchers as a Rosetta stone for understanding hostility between the former president and the nation’s foreign intelligence gathering services.

One section of the memo, however, spanning roughly 1.5 pages, remained redacted and was only revealed Tuesday night. The section described the CIA’s widespread use of diplomatic cover and its risks. Diplomatic cover was less expensive than other methods, quicker, and more attractive for agents, the memo states.

It’s unclear why the information has been concealed from the public for decades.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard praised the release of some 2,182 files related to the Kennedy presidency Tuesday and signaled that more documents could be released upon being released from court seal.

“President Trump is ushering in a new era of maximum transparency,” she said in a statement.

Schlessinger listed the number of CIA agents or “CAS personnel” populating embassies abroad.

“In the American embassy in Vienna, out of 20 persons listed in the October 1960 Foreign Service List as being in the Political Section, 16 are CAS personnel; of the 31 officers listed as engaging in political activities, over half are CAS,” he wrote. “Of the 13 officers listed in the political section of our embassy in Chile, 11 are CAS.”

Schlessinger expressed concern about the CIA’s dominance in the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

“In the Paris embassy today, there are 123 CIA people. CIA [in Paris] has long since begun to move into areas of political reporting typically occupied by State. The CIA men doing overt internal political reporting outnumber those in the Embassy’s political section by 18-2. CIA has even sought to monopolize contact with certain French political personalities, among them the President of the National Assembly,” he said.

The memo makes apparent reference to rumored CIA backing of the April 1961 Algiers putsch, in which generals unsuccessfully attempted a coup d’etat in French Algeria. French President Charles de Gaulle was moving Algeria toward self-determination and away from French control, which the generals opposed.

“CIA occupies the top floor of the Paris embassy, a fact well known locally; and on the night of the Generals’ [unreadable] in Algeria, passersby noted with amusement that the top floor was ablaze with lights,” he wrote. “I am informed that Ambassador Gavin was able to secure entrance that night to the CIA offices only with difficulty.”

Jefferson Morley, vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation and a longtime advocate for declassification, had identified this redaction section of the memo as among his top priorities ahead of the new release.

Schlessinger suggested a review of policies instituted around Jan. 19, 1961 — the day before Kennedy’s inauguration. The historian had warned Kennedy about so-called “controlled American sources” becoming a permanent feature of the foreign service, while also advocating for the “steady reduction” of CIA agents at U.S. embassies.

“Before State loses control of more and more of its presumed overseas personnel, and before CAS becomes permanently integrated into the Foreign Service, it would seem important (a) to secure every ambassador the firm control over the local CAS station nominally promised in the [unreadable] Directive of January 19, 1961, and (b) to review the current CAS direction with an eye to a steady reduction of CAS personnel,” he wrote.

The degree to which diplomatic cover for CIA agents remains a threat to the State Department’s independence and legitimacy also remains unclear. A New York Times story on March 6 about the shuttering of some foreign embassies noted that the prospect of further cuts had “generated some anxiety within the Central Intelligence Agency.”

“The vast majority of undercover American intelligence officers work out of embassies and consulates, posing as diplomats, and the closure of diplomatic posts would reduce the C.I.A.’s options for where to position its spies,” the paper reported.