This article is as stupid and wrongheaded as the CIA analysts it criticizes. The problem was not the CIA’s lack of “diversity,” and the CIA didn’t fail to see 9/11 coming for “cultural reasons,” but because it was taken for granted within the organization, and is even more today, that jihad terror doesn’t have anything whatsoever to do with Islam, and is a hijacking and twisting of the peaceful faith of Islam. CIA analysts, like their counterparts all over the West, assumed that bin Laden could never pull off a major operation not because he was a bearded guy in a cave, but because they assumed that the vast majority of Muslims rejected his understanding of Islam, and that he would therefore meet hindrances in recruitment and a great deal more. Today, that position is institutionalized within the CIA and other agencies, and will eventually lead to more jihad murders of more Americans.
“Viewpoint: Was CIA ‘too white’ to spot 9/11 clues?,” BBC, September 10, 2019:
When the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) failed to prevent the September 11, 2001 attacks, many asked whether more could have been done. But the true reason why the agency was blind to the signs may be a diversity problem, writes Matthew Syed.
The failure of the CIA to spot the warning signs of the 9/11 plot has become one of the most hotly contested issues in the history of intelligence. There have been commissions, reviews, internal investigations and more.
On the one side are those who say that the CIA missed obvious warning signs. On the other are those who argue that it is notoriously difficult to identity threats in advance, and that the CIA did everything they reasonably could.
But what if both sides are wrong? What if the true reason why the CIA failed to detect the plot is more subtle than either side has realised? And what if this problem extends beyond intelligence and silently afflicts thousands of organisations, governments and teams today?
While many of the inquiries focused on particular judgements in the frenetic build-up to 9/11, few took a step back to examine the internal structure of the CIA itself and, in particular, its hiring policies. At one level, these were state of the art. Potential analysts were put through a battery of psychological, medical and other exams. And there is no doubt they hired exceptional people.
“The two major exams were a SAT-style test to probe a candidate’s intelligence and a psychological profile to examine their mental state,” says a CIA veteran. “The tests filtered out anyone who was not stellar on both tests. In the year I applied, they accepted one candidate for every 20,000 applicants. When the CIA talked about hiring the best, they were bang on the money .”
And yet most of these recruits also happened to look very similar – white, male, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant Americans.
This is a common phenomenon in recruiting, sometimes called “homophily”: people tend to hire people who think (and often look) like themselves. It is validating to be surrounded by people who share one’s perspectives and beliefs. Indeed, brain scans suggest that when others reflect our own thoughts back to us, it stimulates the pleasure centres of our brains.
Image copyright SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesIn their study of the CIA, the intelligence experts Milo Jones and Phillipe Silberzahn write: “The first consistent attribute of the CIA’s identity and culture from 1947 to 2001 is homogeneity of its personnel in terms of race, sex, ethnicity and class background (relative both to the rest of America and to the world as a whole).”
An inspector general’s study on recruitment found that in 1964, one branch of the CIA, the Office of National Estimates, “had no black, Jewish, or women professionals, and only a few Catholics”.
By 1967, the report said, there were fewer than 20 African Americans out of some 12,000 non-clerical CIA employees, and the agency maintained the practice of not hiring minorities from the 1960s through the 1980s. And until 1975, the US intelligence community “openly barred the employment of homosexuals”.
Talking of his experience of the CIA in the 1980s, one insider wrote that the recruitment process “led to new officers who looked very much like the people who recruited them – white, mostly Anglo-Saxon; middle and upper class; liberal arts college graduates”. There were few women and “few ethnics, even of recent European background”.
“In other words, not even as much diversity as there was among those who had helped create the CIA.”
Diversity was squeezed further after the end of the Cold War. A former operations officer said that the CIA had a “white-as-rice culture”….
As Lawrence Wright put it in his Pulitzer Prize winning book about 9/11, Bin Laden orchestrated his operation by “calling up images that were deeply meaningful to many Muslims but practically invisible to those who were unfamiliar with the faith”.
Jones writes: “The beard and campfire anecdote is evidence of a larger pattern in which non-Muslim Americans – even experienced consumers of intelligence – underestimated Al Qaeda for cultural reasons.”…
CogitoErgoSum says
The problem was not that the CIA was too white. The problem was that it knew too little about Islam.
Perhaps that is still so.
jayell says
If it was indeed ‘too white’, that would be because it would ipso facto not have suspected the level of criminal depravity to be expected from these middle-eastern muslims since that sort of thing is not historically a common characteristic of being ‘too white’. Just look at the world history books for the evidence. Whether or not that’s what the islamomanic and appalling institutionally-anti-British-racist BBC means is no doubt questionable.
Jayell says
I think Mortimer is echoing my point. The ‘ideology’ is the product and projection of the hard-wiring of the person/group that invents or/and condones and practises it, which explains why differing kinds of thinking and social organisation can be seen to be centred in different identifiable geographical locations associated with different identifiable human groups, and also explains the social disruption that is often seen to occur (e.g. in Sweden and Gsrmany) when large numbers of a group move to and impose themselvea on another group’s territory. This phenomenon is usually referred to as ‘bringing one’s cultural baggage’. If there was not this inherent association of thought patterns/ideologies with human groups, (a) persons moving between different social /cultural environments would adapt and conform automatically as a default process, or even (b) there would be no significant cultural variation globally in the first place.
mortimer says
No, stupid … it was the IDEOLOGY of jihadism … and it still is the IDEOLOGY, stupid.
Unless the CIA requires advanced studies of the JIHAD IDEOLOGY, the terrorists will LAUGH AT YOU.
CogitoErgoSum says
Mortimer, I’m not clear about what you are saying. Are you calling calling me stupid or do you mean jayell or the CIA or what? Are you saying there is a distinction between Islam and the ideology of the Jihadists? If so, where do the Jihadists get their ideology?
gravenimage says
CogitoErgoSum, Mortimer often uses “stupid” generically–but others have indeed, unsurprisingly, assumed it was aimed personally at them.
Anne says
The problem is that religion was never considered the proper study of Intel.
Jihad ideology remained cloaked in the protective mantel of religion.
Mr. Cohen says
Yigal Carmon [President of MEMRI dot org] said:
A popular Arab saying goes,
“The Americans are good people — they can easily be deceived.”
SOURCE: Americans are good people —
just ask the Qatari Emir by Yigal Carmon, 2019/7/14
http://www.jns.org/opinion/the-americans-are-good-people-just-ask-the-qatari-emir
mortimer says
Thanks, Mr.Cohen. That truly sums it up. In other words, most American elites are simplistic and gullible POLLYANNAs in their understanding of Islam.
The naive American elites accept whatever humbug they are told by the polite, well-educated Arab taqiyya artists.
So easy to trick … child’s play. And moreover, the American elites are so smug they refuse to be educated.
Jaladhi says
I am not giving any credence to what this stupid organization writes or reports – they are based in London whose mayor is a Muslim – enough said!
InfidelLover says
>> I am not giving any credence to what this stupid organization writes or reports
No, don’t. They are progressive left-wing liberal wing organisation.
And they apply whatever is the current trendy left-wing thinking to all problems.
In this case “diversity is our strength”, a completely anile phrase.
They quote from Reni Eddo-Lodge who is author of
“Why i am no longer talking to White people about race”.
I have this book. It is racist rant against White people by a Nigerian.
Would the UK be helped by importing 1 million illegal immigrants who have no education skills just to improve “our diversity?”
Diversity of mind is what is required.
Mr. Cohen says
Yigal Carmon [President of MEMRI dot org] said:
Two months before 9/11, on Qatar’s state-run Al-Jazeera TV,
[Osama] bin Laden was lionized in a show dedicated to him.
He was called “the No. 1 Arab and Islamic hero” and
“the conscience of the Arab and Islamic world.”
The program host underlined that as
“the [Muslim] nation thirsts deeply for someone
who will confront America… not with words and slogans,”
and said that bin Laden was
“the right man for this important role.”
And indeed he was.
SOURCE: Americans are good people —
just ask the Qatari Emir by Yigal Carmon, 2019/7/14
http://www.jns.org/opinion/the-americans-are-good-people-just-ask-the-qatari-emir
mortimer says
Thanks, Mr.C. In other words, Qatar was in on 9-11 and aided the terrorists.
Mr. Cohen says
Yigal Carmon [President of MEMRI dot org] said:
“For over two decades, Qatar has been fostering
and advancing nearly every terrorist organization
that has murdered Americans.
It praised Osama bin Laden, and after him
Ayman Al-Zawahiri [leader of Al-Qaeda
after Osama bin Laden], to the skies.”
SOURCE: Americans are good people —
just ask the Qatari Emir by Yigal Carmon, 2019/7/14
http://www.jns.org/opinion/the-americans-are-good-people-just-ask-the-qatari-emir/
Mr. Cohen says
Yigal Carmon [President of MEMRI dot org] said:
…Qatar cultivates anti-Semitism, even allowing
Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf Al-Qaradawi,
hosted and protected for decades by Qatar,
to call on its airwaves for a NEW HOLOCAUST
to be carried out “at the hands of the Muslims.”
SOURCE: Americans are good people —
just ask the Qatari Emir by Yigal Carmon, 2019/7/14
http://www.jns.org/opinion/the-americans-are-good-people-just-ask-the-qatari-emir/
Mr. Cohen says
Mr. Ali Adi [an Arab who lives in Israel] said:
If you ask any one of them [Arabs] during a casual
conversation, even the biggest hater of Israel will
tell you honestly that they prefer a conflict with Jews
to a conflict with other Arabs, which would naturally
result in brutal, unchecked bloodshed.
The Arab citizens of Israel will admit that they prefer
the Israeli government to an Arab one, even if from
their comfortable positions at Israeli universities
they prefer to call it “the occupation.”
SOURCES:
I Embrace My Israeli Arab Identity by Ali Adi 2019 September 1
http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/i-embrace-my-arab-israeli-identity/
www*jns*org/opinion/i-embrace-my-israeli-arab-identity/
www*algemeiner*com/2019/09/02/i-embrace-my-israeli-arab-identity/
Mr. Cohen says
Mr. Ali Adi [an Arab who lives in Israel] said:
“The truth, which the entire Arab world already
acknowledges, that the Israeli army is the more humane
and considerate than the Arab armies, fills me with pride.”
SOURCES:
I Embrace My Israeli Arab Identity by Ali Adi 2019 September 1
www (dot) israelhayom (dot) com/opinions/i-embrace-my-arab-israeli-identity/
www (dot) jns (dot) org/opinion/i-embrace-my-israeli-arab-identity/
www (dot) algemeiner (dot) com/2019/09/02/i-embrace-my-israeli-arab-identity/
===================================
Lord Ian Livingston of England said:
“Whilst the Israeli Defense Forces are not
perfect, the obsession of focusing on them
despite being the most moral and professional
army in the Middle East is very strange.”
SOURCE: Ten Baroness Tonge
Pilloried at House of Lords Session She Initiated
on Israel’s Treatment of Palestinian Children
by Benjamin Kerstein, 2019 July 8, The Algemeiner
http://www.algemeiner.com/2019/07/08/itiated-on-israels-treatment
Mr. Cohen says
Mr. Ali Adi [an Arab who lives in Israel] said:
If you ask any one of them [Arabs] during a casual
conversation, even the biggest hater of Israel will
tell you honestly that they prefer a conflict with Jews
to a conflict with other Arabs, which would naturally
result in brutal, unchecked bloodshed.
The Arab citizens of Israel will admit that they
prefer the Israeli government to an Arab one,
even if from their comfortable positions at
Israeli universities they prefer to call it “the occupation.”
SOURCES:
I Embrace My Israeli Arab Identity by Ali Adi 2019 September 1
www (dot) israelhayom (dot) com/opinions/i-embrace-my-arab-israeli-identity/
www (dot) jns (dot) org/opinion/i-embrace-my-israeli-arab-identity/
www (dot) algemeiner (dot) com/2019/09/02/i-embrace-my-israeli-arab-identity/
Mario Alexis Portella says
Well said Mr. Spencer!
mortimer says
MESSAGE TO THE CLUELESS BBC:
Islam is multi-racial (or didn’t you know that?), so it’s not about race at all.
It’s the IDEOLOGY, stupid.
somehistory says
Going by this fool’s *reasoning*, one could say, if the FBI had more serial killers in the ranks, they could catch more serial killers.
If the CIA had more moslims,, there would be more brains steeped in islam, but they wouldn’t catch more terrorists. Instead of maybe not knowing for what they should be looking, they would be seeing it and abetting it.
“White” guys just don’t think evil enough to see how evil isl islam. A person, of whatever ‘color’ or belief, has to learn of the evil and reject it.
James Lincoln says
somehistory says,
“ “White” guys just don’t think evil enough to see how evil islam is…”
You know, I think you’re onto something there. I’m a white guy, and I hang out with a lot of white guys.
Never once, did I, or any of my white friends, ever think about chopping somebody’s head off…
somehistory says
Thanks.
If one replaces “White” with “Good”…because I believe those who are using islam to destroy mankind have replaced “Good” with “White.” Recall that “men in white hats” mean the “good guys.”
However, if they say “good” then that obviously means they are “bad.” They don’t wish to admit that.
Keys says
Oh, for cryin’ out loud !
There would be no BBC without a “too white” USA !
So many, like Matthew Syed with BBC promotion, are making the West a non-rational society by their hidden agendas. Do not support those who do, rather call them out, just like Robert Spencer does here.
If the BBC’s Matthew Syed is muslim, no doubt he would see the solution to the CIA’s “diversity problem” as more Muslims in the CIA.
Muslims are a race, you know. /sarc off
Mr. Cohen says
On June 1, 2006, former New York City mayor Ed Koch
wrote an opinion piece in the [New York] Times
titled “The New York Times’ Anti-Israel Bias,”
asserting that “the British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC]
and the New York Times consistently carry news
stories and editorials that are slanted against Israel
and sympathetic to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.”
SOURCE: Unfreedom of the Press
(chapter 6, page 157) by Mark R. Levin,
published by Threshold Editions, year 2019, NYC,
ISBN 9781476773094 * ISBN 1476773092
Mr. Cohen says
If you want articles that expose the pro-Muslim bias of the BBC,
and articles about the BBC’s bias against Israel, then go to:
https://www.algemeiner.com/?s=BBC
Gork says
I work among a lot of people with some pretty significant clearances. They come from every background imaginable. This charge is utter nonsense.
gravenimage says
BBC asks if CIA was “too white” to spot clues that 9/11 was coming
………………
What utter idiocy. And yet, the CIA is now actively hiring Muslims:
https://www.investigativeproject.org/comments/5264
This will only make things worse.
Peter B says
In the aftermath of 9/11 I read an interview with a retired CIA agent in which he explained the difficulty the Agency had hiring people who would spend large parts of their careers collecting human intelligence in the Third World:
“It’s hard to find people who want a career where chronic diarrhea is a way of life.”
gravenimage says
Putting people who want us to submit or die will not make things better for us.
sidney penny says
“Today, that position is institutionalized within the CIA and other agencies, and will eventually lead to more jihad murders of more Americans.”
To the point as usual.
Angemon says
What a conundrum – devout muslims would possibly fall for OBL’s calling hook, line and sinker. Less devout muslims would possibly go “nah, that’s not islamic in any way or fashion, he’ll never convince any muslims to support him”. I fail to see how any of those possibilities would have prevented 9/11. You know what would have? Bill Clinton ordering that strike in ’98…
Brian Hoff says
The CIA suffer from group think they all think alike. In WWII the British knew the Germany will move they two battlecruiser out of Best in franch. The British except the Germany would go through the Irish sea an around Scotland and down the North sea. Instead the Germany ship went up the England channel with fighter support and destoryer and eboats escort took the British surprised.
gravenimage says
“Brian Hoff”–really, “DefenderofIslam”–wrote:
The CIA suffer from group think they all think alike.
………………………….
The CIA has foiled too many Jihad terror attacks for “DefenderofIslam’s” tastes. He has said before that he wants to force us to submit to Shari’ah.
More:
In WWII the British knew the Germany will move they two battlecruiser out of Best in franch. The British except the Germany would go through the Irish sea an around Scotland and down the North sea. Instead the Germany ship went up the England channel with fighter support and destoryer and eboats escort took the British surprised.
………………………….
Now “DefenderofIslam” is gloating over the Nazis killing Allies here. Despicable but hardly surprising.
Brian Hoff says
The British plan this one year before the Germany carry out they plan. Name calling isnot call for.
Brian Hoff says
The British planner did look into the Germany going up the channel. They dismiss the idear as the Germany willnot contest the nightly British navy by going up the channel. It they where to think like the tenant admiral they would plan better. They would need fighers cover where are the Germany fighers bases locate in northern France beligem hollland and demark which show you they would go up the channel.
Brian Hoff says
In case any one bring up modern day fighter flying thousand of miles today. The Me 109 have than combat range 600 to 650 miles before it have to return to base. Than greasy military commander have the ability to put himself into the mind of the enemy.