Statement to Employees by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Hayden on Honoring the Victims of 9/11

September 10, 2008

Tomorrow, we mark the seventh anniversary of one of our nation’s most difficult days. To see America under attack, as it was then, is something none of us can ever forget. In an office here at CIA Headquarters, in a unit crucial to the fight against terrorism, a prominent sign still reads: “Today’s date is September 12^th, 2001.” That stark, simple reminder speaks to the spirit of determination that defines our Agency. There can be no finer way to honor the victims of 9/11 than to continue working with that full dedication to protect our country and uphold its values of freedom and decency in the world.

Mike Hayden

Remarks by Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden
at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council

Good afternoon. Thanks for that kind introduction, and thank you all for inviting me. It’s a pleasure and privilege to be in Los Angeles and to speak to this Council.

As eventful as the world may be right now, the development that is likely to have the most far-reaching consequences will be a domestic one—the election of a new American president. From the standpoint of the Intelligence Community, it’ll be the first time since 1952 that our top customer will not have served as an incumbent or vice president. It also will be the first transition since the office of Director of National Intelligence was created, and that will be a new experience for all of us.

CIA is the Community’s executive agent in supporting briefings for Senator McCain and Senator Obama, reflecting our role in producing the President’s Daily Brief. After the election, there will be two daily PDB briefings—one for President Bush and another for the president-elect. The new national security team will be setting up shop, too, so it promises to be a very busy time for everyone involved.

The new administration will be a great opportunity for the Agency. I see it as a chance to demonstrate our expertise and insight into virtually every foreign issue affecting this country. We’ll get to know all our new customers and learn how best to serve them. But our fundamental responsibility—protecting the citizens of this nation—will remain the same.

Today I’d like to talk about how CIA keeps America safe from weapons of mass destruction, particularly the nuclear threat. Meeting that critical challenge has been a core responsibility ever since the Agency’s founding in 1947.

In fact, the very first CIA officer to die in the line of duty had been gathering data on the Soviet nuclear program. Douglas Mackiernan served in the desolate reaches of western China, one of those brave operatives who worked our top intelligence target along the periphery of the Soviet Union.

“Mack,” as he was called, was an MIT physics major conversant in Russian and Chinese, a highly resourceful and perceptive officer who had to work with some pretty basic equipment given the remoteness of his post. His primary tasks were to investigate Moscow’s access to local uranium deposits and report any sign of nuclear testing in Soviet Central Asia.

Mackiernan’s mission was cut short by the rapid western advance of the Chinese Communists after their revolution in 1949. He escaped by setting out on an epic seven-month trek across deserts and mountains. He managed to make it all the way to the frontier of Tibet, where he should have found sanctuary. Tragically, he was shot by Tibetan guards who had not yet received word that an American was coming and that he should be granted safe passage.

Douglas Mackiernan’s story speaks to the dedication and courage our officers have brought to our mission for six decades. CIA has targeted the WMD threat in all its forms, from the massive arsenals of rival nations to the deadly aspirations of terrorists. To say that we’re focused on 21^st century challenges doesn’t mean for a second that we’ve forgotten those of the 20^th—or that we aren’t looking for the emerging threats of tomorrow.

We closely analyze, as we should and as we must, the WMD and missile programs of countries throughout the world. But as attentive as we are in tracking existing weapons programs, the greater challenge lies in detecting those developing in secrecy. CIA is always watching for signs that states and subnational groups might be taking steps to acquire nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.

Our mission is made a lot more difficult by the fact that access to sensitive technologies is no longer the exclusive domain of a few advanced nations. Dual-use technologies and scientific experts travel easily in our global economy, making it critical to follow those movements and know the experts.

But because the materials and expertise are so prevalent and have perfectly legitimate applications, the very fact that someone is interested in nuclear, chemical, or biological technology is not enough to prove they are interested in weapons. A WMD program fundamentally centers on political intent.

By that measure alone, there is no greater national security threat facing the United States than al-Qa‘ida and its associates. Bin Ladin has said repeatedly that he considers acquisition of nuclear weapons “a religious duty.” And we know that al-Qa‘ida remains determined to attack our country in ways that inflict maximum death and destruction.

We are fortunate that those with the clearest intent to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction are also the least capable of developing them. But the potential destruction from an improvised nuclear device—no matter how elementary—is so great that all that really matters to CIA is that we know terrorists are determined to use them.

We fight this threat on two fronts—the supply side and the demand side. CIA has a group devoted to identifying, penetrating, and disrupting WMD-related proliferation networks. That group is at the heart of a highly integrated effort, drawing on the expertise of our own analysts and intelligence collectors and their colleagues throughout government. Together with our foreign partners, we account for and help safeguard WMD and related equipment worldwide. We identify the illegal sellers and buyers of technology and expertise. And we use covert action to disrupt illicit transfers.

At the same time, we work—methodically, patiently, tirelessly—to penetrate and destroy terrorist networks. Operating against both ends of the chain is critical to detecting and defeating any nuclear plot against America or our allies.

CIA also focuses on Iran and North Korea, two states whose WMD programs have threatened US interests, regional stability, and international arms control mechanisms like the Non-Proliferation Treaty. North Korea conducted a nuclear test two years ago, and the Intelligence Community judges their program produced enough plutonium for at least a half-dozen weapons. For its part, Iran has the scientific, technical, and industrial capacity to produce nuclear weapons eventually. The question is not of capability, but intent.

A good analyst never presumes anything, least of all the plans of a foreign power. Intelligence officers can only assess capability and intent by starting with a clean slate and working from solid evidence and known behavior. That’s precisely what our Community did last year on Tehran’s nuclear program. The result was the Iran National Intelligence Estimate released in November.

The Iran NIE has had its share of criticism, which is typically what happens with a rigorous estimate that lays out what we know and don’t know about a highly contentious issue. It’s detailed, thorough, and—quite frankly—it’s courageous. We don’t have time to delve into the full scope of its findings, but here, very briefly, are the major judgments:

• Until the fall of 2003, elements of Iran’s military were working to develop nuclear weapons and a warhead capable of delivering such weapons.
• Tehran halted these efforts probably due to international scrutiny and exposure of previously undeclared nuclear work. We assessed that the nuclear weapons program had not resumed as of mid-2007, a conclusion that subsequent intelligence still supports.
• And finally, Tehran at a minimum is keeping open its option to develop nuclear weapons.

What leads us to this last judgment? Again, it’s a matter of working back from actions. Why are they pushing forward with the uranium enrichment process at Natanz? They say it’s for civilian purposes, and yet they’ve rejected international offers of fissile material under proper controls.

Iran’s behavior, coming as it does after years of nuclear activity they concealed and continue to deny, invites nothing but suspicion. Why are they slow-rolling the International Atomic Energy Agency by not being forthcoming? And why are they willing to defy the United Nations and pay such a heavy price in terms of international isolation?

Those questions sound familiar. One could argue that Iraq under Saddam was just as confrontational and ultimately lacked the weapons we thought were there. But Iran’s leaders saw what happened to Saddam, and still they reject every opportunity to come clean with the world.

North Korea also poses a broad and complex challenge to global arms control. In fact, the WMD problem in Iran is compounded to no small degree by Tehran’s collaboration with North Korea on ballistic missiles.

Pyongyang’s WMD programs present a double threat. As part of North Korea’s arsenal, they endanger the peace and stability of northeastern Asia. As a source of global proliferation, they have been without equal since a joint operation with our British partners took down A.Q. Khan earlier this decade. Like Khan, whose network had been the world’s most dangerous black market supplier of nuclear technology, North Korea asks only two things of its customers: first, can they pay, and second, can they keep a secret.

Thanks to some outstanding intelligence work, we were able last year to spoil a big secret, a project that could have provided Syria with plutonium for nuclear weapons. I’d like to cover it here because it’s an excellent example of how CIA and our Community colleagues attack the problem of nuclear proliferation.

It was reported in the press last April, and you’re probably familiar with its outlines. We knew that North Korea and Syria had been cooperating since the late 1990s in the nuclear field. The depth of that relationship was revealed in the spring of last year, when we identified a nuclear reactor at Al-Kibar in the eastern desert of Syria. It was similar to the one at Yongbyon in North Korea, but with its outer structure heavily disguised.

The situation became critical late last summer, when we judged the facility could be nearing operation. The Al-Kibar reactor was destroyed the morning of 6 September 2007. The Syrians immediately cleared away the rubble and every trace of the building, stonewalling the IAEA when asked to explain. Their cover-up only underlined the intense secrecy of this project and the danger it had posed to a volatile region.

I want to focus briefly on two important aspects of this intelligence effort: the quality of tradecraft, in terms of collection and analysis, and the value of collaboration, both with colleagues in our government and with foreign services.

More than anything else, our work was a classic example of multidisciplinary, blue-collar analysis. We had a group of officers who started working overtime on this issue in April 2007 and kept at it for months. Virtually every form of intelligence—imagery, signals, human source, you name it—informed their assessments, so that they were never completely dependent on any single channel.

For instance, a report from a foreign partner initially identified the structure at Al-Kibar as a nuclear reactor similar to one in North Korea. But even without that piece of the puzzle, it wouldn’t have been long before we reached the same conclusion. We had previously identified the facility on imagery as a suspicious target. When pipes for a massive cooling system were laid out to the Euphrates River in the spring of 2007, there would have been little doubt this was a nuclear reactor. We would have known it was North Korean, too, given the quantity and variety of intelligence reports on nuclear ties between Pyongyang and Damascus.

Still, our analysts were open to alternative possibilities at every juncture. Early on, they applied a methodology that laid out the inconsistencies in each competing hypothesis. They carefully examined whether the building might be for another purpose, like a conventional power plant, or a water treatment facility. In each case, the arguments simply didn’t add up.  The reactor hypothesis was the most difficult to refute with the available evidence.

We then stepped back and tried to turn the basic premise on its head: OK, we’ve got a nuclear reactor in Syria built with North Korean help, but is it necessarily for a Syrian program? Might it have been built by North Korea for its own use, to secretly replace the Yongbyon reactor they had pledged to shut down? We took that hypothesis and worked very hard on it, but the mainstream theory held sway.

Finally, this was a success reached through close collaboration across agencies, departments, and governments. Dedicated officers at CIA, DIA, the Department of Energy, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and NSA came together as a team, each bringing a specific expertise to the table. And this was an intelligence problem that required a wide range of knowledge. I already mentioned all the different forms of collection, but it also drew from a remarkable diversity of analytic firepower—everyone from nuclear technology and weapons experts to political and leadership analysts.

Our foreign partnerships too were critical to the final outcome. These relationships aren’t a matter of occasionally passing along a report that may or may not be useful. They’re more akin to working together on a complex equation over a long period. Each tries to solve a variable that in turn helps a partner solve another, and so on until we’ve cracked the case. That’s what good intelligence is all about.

I hope my remarks today have given you a better idea of how CIA is meeting the counterproliferation challenge. The Intelligence Community as a whole has taken great strides since the pre-war NIE on Iraq to strengthen our tradecraft, and I think it shows with both the Iran estimate and the Al-Kibar effort. The rigor of our sourcing, the emphasis on alternative analysis, and the integration of our expertise with those of our colleagues have never been greater.

By history and law, CIA has more connective tissue to the rest of the Intelligence Community than any other organization. We draw on those deep connections and other unique strengths—in human intelligence collection, all-source analysis, and foreign liaison partnerships—to fulfill a single overriding mission: protecting the American people. That remains the ultimate standard by which we measure our success.

I am tremendously proud of the men and women of CIA. They give far more than they get, and deserve far better than they usually receive. Like Doug Mackiernan before them, today’s CIA officers face the same risks, possess the same spirit, and serve the same cause. They accomplish their mission in ways I’m sure would make you proud, too.

Thank you very much.

In a ceremony held September 18, 2008 at CIA Headquarters, Director Mike Hayden presented the Agency’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal to Maj. Gen. Michael E. Ennis, USMC, who served as the National Clandestine Service’s first Deputy Director for Community Human Intelligence (HUMINT) from May 2006 to August 2008.

In this newly created position, a product of CIA’s expanded HUMINT management responsibilities, Gen. Ennis was responsible for integrating the clandestine HUMINT capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community. This included establishing HUMINT best practices and standards across the Community, and supporting the coordination of vital HUMINT operations designed to protect our nation’s security.

In awarding one of the Agency’s highest honors, Director Hayden paid tribute to Gen. Ennis’ service, saying, “Clearly, Mike’s distinguished record at CIA has been one of moving to contact on some of the most challenging issues we face. Thanks in large part to his energy, pragmatism, expertise, and good humor, we’re making HUMINT collection a joint effort in ways that were hard to imagine before September 2001.”

In March 2007, Director Hayden ordered the creation of the HUMINT Enterprise Board of Governors, a CIA-led body consisting of 31 government organizations that conduct or enable HUMINT operations. Gen. Ennis played a crucial role in the Board’s establishment and crucial work, including a landmark Intelligence Community Directive on HUMINT.

“If there was a single greatest difficulty—or greatest feat—in putting together this enterprise, it was hashing out the Intelligence Community Directive governing how we do HUMINT. That was a tough bureaucratic slog, and Mike was instrumental in reaching consensus and getting it done,” Director Hayden said.

The Distinguished Intelligence Medal is presented for performance of outstanding services or for achievement of a distinctly exceptional nature in a duty or responsibility.

Earlier this month, Gen. Ennis was succeeded by Brig. Gen. Richard T. Ellis, USA.

In 1976, Adolf Tolkachev, a Soviet aviation specialist working on stealth technology for aircraft, began leaving notes in, or on, the cars of U.S. diplomats near the American Embassy in Moscow. He was interested in meeting with CIA officials.

For almost a decade—after finally making that contact—he proved to be a tremendous reporting asset. He provided plans, specifications and test results on existing and planned Soviet aircraft and missiles. The information provided by Tolkachev saved the U.S. government billions of dollars in defense expenditures, a coup that prompted some intelligence historians to call him “the greatest spy since Penkovsky.”

Tolkachev in KGB custody.

Tolkachev’s espionage ended with his arrest by the KGB on June 9, 1985. On Sept. 25, 1986, a TASS (Russia’s official news agency) news article announced that Tolkachev had been tried, convicted and executed the day before. Although initial suspicion for his arrest fell on former CIA employee and defector Edward Lee Howard, who had been slated to handle Tolkachev while stationed in Moscow, subsequent information revealed that Tolkachev was also betrayed by Aldrich Ames.

For more on Tolkachev, visit “Tolkachev, A Worthy Successor to Penkovsky” from Studies in Intelligence.

The fourth Director of Central Intelligence, Gen. Walter Bedell Smith (1950-53), was one of CIA’s most successful and influential directors. A forceful manager with decided ideas about running CIA, Smith:

• Established a permanent system for daily intelligence reporting to the President
• Reorganized CIA missions at a crucial time in its history—the period of the Korean War—and
• Fostered cooperation within the emerging U.S. Intelligence Community.

A generation of Agency leaders following his tenure, and historians since, regard him as having “put CIA on the intelligence map” in terms of visibility and impact.

Bedell Smith (center) with top Agency leaders, including outgoing DCI Hillenkoetter (to Smith’s left, in light suit), 7 October 1950.

Smith made significant and durable changes in CIA that substantially improved the effectiveness of operations, support and analysis.

• Within CIA, Smith instituted the directorate structure that endures today.
• He resolved a debilitating conflict between foreign intelligence collectors and covert action operators (who also reported to the State Department) by merging their components into the Directorate of Plans,* whose leader reported directly to the DCI.
• He combined a collection of uncoordinated support functions into the Directorate of Administration.*
• To provide daily and topical intelligence analysis, Smith established offices dealing with current, military, economic and scientific analysis as part of a new Directorate of Intelligence. 
• Lastly, to increase accountability in the new structure, he appointed the Agency’s first inspector general.

Smith Establishes Intelligence Bulletin for the President

Smith also established a permanent system for providing intelligence support to the White House.  Besides the Office of Current Intelligence (OCI), which prepared material for Smith’s weekly briefings of President Truman, he launched the new Current Intelligence Bulletin and the Current Intelligence Weekly Review. He tailored these publications for the President and senior policymakers.

After President Truman received the first Bulletin, he wrote, “Dear Bedel [sic], I have been reading the intelligence bulletin and I am highly impressed with it. I believe you have hit the jackpot with this one.” The OCI and these publications continued largely unchanged for 25 years.  Smith also established the precedent of providing intelligence briefings to presidential candidates and presidents-elect.

Central Oversight of National Intelligence

Three months after the North invaded the South, Smith created a Board and Office of National Estimates (BNE and ONE). These groups reported to the DCI. This change assured central oversight of national intelligence. This structure was responsible for producing and coordinating national intelligence estimates for a quarter century and was the forerunner of today’s National Intelligence Council.

Smith was especially determined that CIA should cooperate with Army intelligence in collecting and analyzing information about the conflict in Korea. In 1951, he requested that the National Security Council review how disparate military entities were handling COMINT (communications intelligence), an initiative that led to the creation of NSA.

DCI Smith with President Truman

By the time Smith left the CIA to become President Eisenhower’s Under Secretary of State, the Agency had consolidated the operational and analytical responsibilities it received under the National Security Act of 1947 and had assumed a preeminent status in the Intelligence Community.

According to Walter Pforzheimer, CIA’s original Legislative Counsel,

Smith was the greatest director [but] he doesn’t get the credit . . . General Smith was unbelievable. He really got the Agency firmly established . . .  I think others would agree that he was a great Director, but he's not as well known as some others . . . It was very hard to have affection for General Smith, because he was so frosty and so chilly, but he was a very, very great man.

*The Directorate of Plans, established on Aug. 1, 1952, was the forerunner of today’s National Clandestine Service. The Directorate of Administration was established in 1950 and lasted until 2001. In 2001, the Directorate of Administration was replaced with the offices of the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer, Global Support, Human Resources and Security Mission Support.

We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.

—Jimmy Carter 

The people that make up the Agency’s workforce are much like the beautiful mosaic that President Carter mentions — very diverse. And during Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), we celebrate the Hispanic Americans who have devoted their careers to the Agency’s mission.

Hispanic Heritage Month is one of many commemorative months that celebrates the diversity of America’s people. It is also a celebration of the independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile also gained their freedom during Hispanic Heritage Month.

This article is the first in a two-part series:

Ricardo

Title: Supervisory Special Agent
Time with the Agency: Five years
Heritage: Cuban

Q: How has your Hispanic heritage been helpful in your job at the Agency?

A: The Agency is a lot more multicultural than I have experienced in other places. It was very easy for me, in that respect, to integrate. My heritage is a factor when I meet people. Some people I meet remark on my background because they themselves are from the Middle East or somewhere else. It helps establish communication. Work wise it’s been good to just open the door to talk to individuals about something other than work. It helps me build a rapport.

My heritage also gives me the opportunity to be a mentor. I have been able to mentor a couple of individuals who sought me out and others who have come by to ask about my career. My heritage helps me branch out from the niche that is my job.

Q: Why do you think commemorative months like Hispanic Heritage Month are important?

A: I think for any cultural group it’s important to have something that focuses them and others to look at and recognize that they exist, they are a part of the fabric of society, and that they do make and continue to make contributions. When we celebrate these special months, they highlight some things that—because they are not yet part of the mainstream—some people may not associate with that particular heritage. It helps to overcome and educate the biases that may be out there. It serves an educational purpose. It serves in another way to help everyone integrate.

Q: How does your Hispanic heritage influence your work ethic?

A: In my particular situation, I started working when I was 10 years old. It was menial work, but it was work that was necessary to help my household. As time went on, it was normal for me. When I joined the military as a volunteer, it was very hard work. But the rewards that I received reinforced my ethic and my desire to work hard. The military helped me continue my education, learn things and go places I never would have otherwise. I received in proportion to what I provided in work. I thought that this was the natural way. But I have to say it originated with the fact that I was working from a very young age and that was expected in my family.

Q: What motivates you to come to work every day? Why do you enjoy working at the Agency?

A: I think the work is very interesting and the mission is very interesting. There are no small issues. A small issue here is a big issue somewhere else. I feel challenged. I feel that I actually contribute to resolving problems, which again goes back to getting satisfaction from your job. If it were all for naught, then I would work from 8 to 4 and collect a pay check and call it day. As it is I come in early and at the end of the day I feel that I have accomplished something important.

Q: How does the diverse workforce at the Agency influence your work and the work of others?

A: The mission of the Agency is global. We all know that in order to complete the mission, you must have diversity. If nothing else, you need a well-educated workforce that can understand issues and address them. A workforce that understands these issues because they have experience with or are native to a certain culture may be able to offer a different view and understanding of a situation. This helps the mission.

I have noticed since my arrival – out of necessity, if nothing else – there has been a shift toward hiring individuals who are either native or who are well ingrained in some cultures and countries in order to be able to address the issues that this Agency must. It just takes a little time to build the cadre. If it were only one or two or three places that the Agency had to worry about…but no, it’s worldwide. It enriches the employee base with knowledge and information and helps to round out its employees. By and large, I would say be open minded. All of us come with preconceived ideas about a lot of things.

Ledia

Title: Chief of CINTELCO (the CIA’s telephone company)
Time with the Agency: 19 years
Heritage: Puerto Rican

Q: How has your Hispanic heritage been helpful in your job at the Agency?

A: I bring a different view. I grew up with three sisters, so being the oldest I feel like I’m a good negotiator – being the oldest in the family and trying to keep the peace. I like to find a win-win situation, whether I’m working with my customers or my colleagues to deliver something. I feel that has been something unique that I’ve brought to the table. I think I have a good sense of humor. I try to lighten up things when it tends to get tense. If the team is having a really stressful time, I’ll try to bring that to the table. I think I get that from my Hispanic heritage, trying to socialize a little more so it’s not all work and no play.

Q: Why do you think commemorative months like Hispanic Heritage Month are important?

A: I think this is an opportunity as the Agency is really looking at valuing diversity that we take the time to celebrate those differences. I think it’s an opportunity for folks who want to learn more about those cultures that maybe didn’t grow up in a diverse environment. I was very lucky. I grew up in New York City, so it was very dynamic and diverse, whether I was in school or my neighborhood. Coming from New York here to the Washington area was a very rude awakening in the lack of diversity. So I think it provides an opportunity to — in a very non-confrontational way — talk about those differences, and have folks that don’t feel comfortable ask questions and try to understand more about that culture.

In my career, people have approached me and said, “Hey, I want to have a discussion with someone that’s Hispanic and I don’t want them to get really sensitive about it.” They practice with me. I find that refreshing, that they’re at least trying to value that and go into a session with an employee and they’re willing to not let their difference be thing that impacts how you deliver the message. I’ve done it with other senior managers.

Q: How does your Hispanic heritage influence your work ethic?

A: I’m a type A. I work a lot of long hours. I think that’s just from hard work. I think that growing up with my mom being a single mom and having to raise four girls in New York City was a very tough job for her. To me, she’s always been a role model. She didn’t know English so she had to put us in public school to learn English on our own. And even though she couldn’t help us with the homework, she would sit there and make sure that everything had an answer. To me, that brought in and instilled that you always did your best. I look back at my childhood and I say, she could do it and she didn’t even have any of the skill sets to do that, then I can bring something to the table to add value. I always think back on growing up and not having all those luxuries. I will always do the best in whatever I try to do.

Q: What motivates you to come to work every day? Why do you enjoy working at the Agency?

A: I think in the Agency, it’s just the different things that we can do as a mission. The one thing that — thinking back and reflecting on my career — I’ve most enjoyed is the diversity of assignments that I’ve been able to have. I think that if I had opted to go into a regular computer company, I probably wouldn’t have had the diversity of assignments. I tease my workforce here and say, “Who would have ever thought that a computer software engineer would be running the Agency telephone company?” I have no strong background in the telephone, but I’ve been able to learn in the past four years.

I have enjoyed the uniqueness of assignments – I’ve been a software developer, I’ve been a project manager, I ran the network side. The opportunity brings interesting flavor of coming in here and where you start your career, you don’t have to end it in there.

Q: How does the diverse workforce at the Agency influence your work and the work of others? 

A: I think, especially if I look at my CINTELCO team here, I have managers here with a diverse background, whether it’s ethnic background or experience. When we’re sitting around the table trying to solve an issue, the ability for everybody to see the same problem in different views and bring those opinions to the table and not feel that just because I’m the chief my answer’s always right. It’s really kind of neat that everybody feels that they can bring that to the table. We’ve had several scenarios where we as the management didn’t think we could do something in a technological way and someone who’s fresh to the Agency will say, “Well, how about this way? I did it this way when I was working in the private sector.” That’s what diversity is – bringing that fresh perspective. Not trying to use the same hammer for every problem.

Visit our Careers section to learn more about diversity at CIA.

The Center for the Study of Intelligence (CSI) is looking for graduate students to conduct lessons learned studies or to write histories of CIA operations, events, or issues. Candidates may work on small independent studies or on a segment of a larger study, but in either case they will be expected to produce a publishable contribution to the body of knowledge in the field of inquiry. Candidates will be given general instructions on the scope and objectives for the project, as well as direction and guidance for each stage of the project, but they will be responsible for the thoroughness and accuracy of their work.

Minimum requirements:  Candidates should be working toward a graduate degree in history, political science, international relations, anthropology, sociology, or a related field.  Excellent research, writing, and verbal skills are necessary. An ability to work independently within the framework set by the supervisor is required.

All applicants must successfully complete a thorough medical and psychological exam, a polygraph interview and an extensive background investigation. US citizenship is required.

To be considered suitable for Agency employment, applicants must generally not have used illegal drugs within the last twelve months. The issue of illegal drug use prior to twelve months ago is carefully evaluated during the medical and security processing.

To Apply:

An equal opportunity employer and a drug-free work force.

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

As Dr. King’s quote implies, even though the workforce at the Agency comes from a variety of diverse backgrounds, each and every employee is working toward the same mission — protecting America. The Agency would like to use Hispanic Heritage Month as an opportunity to highlight Hispanic employees who have gone above and beyond what is called for in order to contribute to the mission.

Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) is one of many commemorative months that celebrates the diversity of America’s people. It is also a celebration of the independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and Chile.

Here’s your opportunity to meet some CIA employees with a diverse background and learn about what drives them in their careers.

This is the second article in our series about Hispanic heritage at the CIA. To learn more, read the first article in our series.

Carmen

Title: Director, Center for the Study of Intelligence
         (Formerly Deputy Director of Intelligence)
Time with the Agency: 30 years
Heritage: Puerto Rican

Q: How has your Hispanic heritage been helpful in your job at the Agency?

A: I strongly believe in the importance of diversity of thought in the work of the CIA. And I do believe that everyone, based on their background and personal experiences, brings slightly different view points to problem solving and slightly different interpretations of data. My exposure, early on to, many different cultures—the fact that I was bilingual by the time that I was five—gives me a certain flexibility of mind that helps me be a better analyst and problem solver.

I think another area that I’ve used my heritage and language skills is in outreach for the CIA. I think it’s very important. When I go recruiting or make an outreach visit to schools in the Southwest, it gives me a lot of credibility to say that I graduated from a high school in Texas. For people out in that part of the world—and I know this was the case for me 35 years ago—it is really daunting to think of coming to the East Coast for school or work. I still think it is. In fact, I know it is because I talk to young men and women who tell me it is.

Q: Why do you think commemorative months like Hispanic Heritage Month are important?

A: I think we need to celebrate our differences and not try to hide them. I’m an optimist by nature, and I really think that we are to the point now socially that we understand it’s our differences that make us stronger. It’s important for us to recognize this because I think part of America’s strength is its multicultural nature. It’s important for all of us to recognize that as we build this multicultural country—because it is a work in progress—that we not force anybody to homogenize to some kind of lowest common denominator view of culture. Everybody has to respect the strengths of everybody else’s cultures. Hispanics have to respect the great Northern European cultural tradition of the United States – the English, the Irish, the German, the French. A lot of the original settlers, but of course the Spanish were among the original settlers of the Americas so they’re part of that mix. Everybody else has to respect each other.

I think it’s so exciting. It’s such a great strength for the U.S. We have such strong African-American culture, Asian-American culture, Jewish culture, indigenous culture, original settler cultures, and Hispanic culture. There’s a long tradition in America of not forgetting where we came from culturally. I hope that everyone in America will want to celebrate and join in becoming more knowledgeable about Hispanic culture.

Q: How does your Hispanic heritage influence your work ethic?

A: Everyone in my family was really hard working. My father was a sergeant in the Army. My brother is now a colonel in the Army. My mom went back and got her college degree when she was in her 40s. They were really hard working people. I was the first person in my family to go to college. For me, it was kind of an oddity for my family to accept that intellectual work was work, too. I thought about that a lot and have talked to other Hispanic groups around the country who say that it’s still like that in their families. There was this thing of having to overcome or get used to the fact that what I was doing was real work, even though it was intellectually based work.

Q: What motivates you to come to work every day? Why do you enjoy working at the Agency?

A: I enjoy people. What really made it click for me at the CIA was when—during the seventh or eighth year of my career—I had an opportunity to become a first-line manager. The combination of working with people and working with substance I found constantly exciting. I like new things. I have a lot of interest in new ideas. And if you’re interested in the world and how it’s emerging and evolving, there’s really no better place to work than at CIA. You really study the world on its own terms. You’re not implementing a policy; you’re trying to understand the world and I think that’s very important. It’s the people, the variety of substance, and the challenge of working on very difficult problems.

Q: How does the diverse workforce at the Agency influence your work and the work of others?

A: I say this line as kind of a joke when I talk to groups on diversity—it’s not literally true, but it’s metaphorically true. I say that when I started work here in 1978 at lunch time I would wander the halls looking because someone told me there was one other Puerto Rican working at the Agency and I wanted to find that person. That’s not a true story, but it represents a true feeling that when I started out, the organization was not very diverse in terms of ethnic background, gender, or lifestyle issues. It was just not a very diverse organization. The fact of the matter is that this country is becoming increasingly diverse and different parts of the world are becoming increasingly important to the future of the world. We have recognized that we have no choice, and that it is in fact to our advantage to become as diverse an organization as we can.

Juan

Title: National Clandestine Service, University Academic Chair for Leadership
Years with the Agency: 22
Heritage: Puerto Rican

Q: How has your Hispanic heritage been helpful in your job at the Agency?

A: Obviously, my ethnicity has offered me advantages during my overseas assignments in terms of language and cultural familiarity. More importantly, having a strong and unique ethnic background, I believe I have a greater understanding for other individuals who harbor unique social and cultural identity and customs. Relating and understanding others who have a strong ethnic sense of self, whether they be staff colleagues, liaison contacts, or just personal acquaintances, comes very easily to me.

Q: Why do you think commemorative months like Hispanic Heritage Month are important?

A: Given the increasing role of Americans of Hispanic origin in our society, it is only natural that we recognize the role and impact of Hispanic heritage in our country and our agency.

Q: How does your Hispanic heritage influence your work ethic?

A: Rather than my Hispanic heritage, I believe my work ethic has more to do with the particular values that my parents instilled in me growing up. They were tough and demanded a great deal from me. They granted me more freedoms only as I demonstrated the necessary maturity and responsibility. Maybe the Hispanic emphasis on family values comes into play here.

Q: What motivates you to come to work every day? Why do you enjoy working at the Agency?

A: I love what I do. I cannot overstate the value and importance of the CIA mission. Knowing that I am part of that mission is very important to me. Pride in the role of CIA has a great deal to do with my enjoyment of my profession. Regardless of whether or not I am recognized by the public, every day I know the contributions I have made to our country—that makes for job satisfaction.

Q: How does the diverse workforce at the Agency influence your work and the work of others?

A: Our country is a complex, but complimentary mosaic of peoples of all backgrounds. This factor comprises the basic foundation of what we do and who we are. If the Agency truly began as a predominantly white, male, Ivy League educated cabal of war veterans, that is certainly not us today. Those of us who have had the good fortune to join Agency ranks and brought our own distinct educational backgrounds, socioeconomic mixes, native languages, and both international and national characteristics can be proud to say that we have taken what our forbearers left us and made it better.

Sandra

Title: Targeting Analyst
Time with the Agency: 10 years
Heritage: Puerto Rican

Q: How has your Hispanic heritage been helpful in your job at the Agency?

A: At [the Agency’s new employee] orientation I found out that there was a Hispanic Advisory Council (HAC). I didn’t even know that prior to accepting my job at the Agency. That was one of my networking groups. It gave me the opportunity to join the group and meet a lot of different officers from different directorates and explore my leadership capabilities. I ended up chairing the HAC. It gave me the opportunity to meet people at the Agency at higher levels. So, it provided me, in one way, an avenue to grow in my career. It also helped me feel like I belong. These organizations help minorities find people like themselves and become more acquainted with the Agency. From the perspective of my heritage, I see the differences and it makes me aware of how cultural differences can really enhance the ability of a team to work together.

Q: Why do you think commemorative months like Hispanic Heritage Month are important?

A: The key word is awareness. It doesn’t matter how often you talk about cultural difference and intolerance, there’s still room for improvement in that area. It makes you value your heritage more. It makes you feel proud.

Q: How does your Hispanic heritage influence your work ethic?

A: If anything, it makes me very proud because I’m a minority. It makes me want to excel here and be more of an example that Latinas can succeed and contribute. I feel more pressure to be good at what I’m doing and to prove that I can do it.

Q: What motivates you to come to work every day? Why do you enjoy working at the Agency?

A: The mission and the people. It’s always been about the mission. There hasn’t been a day in the 10 years that I’ve been at the Agency that I haven’t enjoyed working here. The mission has always been incredibly exciting. The impact of the mission is very clear.

Q: How does the diverse workforce at the Agency influence your work and the work of others?

A: It’s been proven time and again that it is key to the success of the organization and teamwork that you have diversity. I am a total believer in that. Almost every office that I’ve worked at in the past five or six years has been extremely diverse and it is recognized how that enhances the performance of a team. I’m not just talking about diversity of ethnicity here, I mean everything.

Visit our Careers section to learn more about diversity at CIA.

Picture this:

A group of disheveled soldiers huddles around a radio with the volume turned down low. The smooth, sultry voice of Marlene Dietrich sings about a soldier leaving behind his loved one to the melody of a slow, somber march. The song is “Lili Marlene”— a very popular tune among soldiers during World War II.

Such songs could easily dampen the morale of the most steadfast soldier, which is exactly what they were meant to do.

Marlene Dietrich is best known as the first German actress to flourish in Hollywood; however, she made a significant contribution to the war effort using her talents. During World War II, Dietrich recorded a number of anti-Nazi albums in German for the Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner of today’s CIA). The albums were a part of an effort by the OSS’ Morale Operations Branch to create propaganda that would lower the morale of German soldiers.

From Chorus Girl to Movie Star

She was born Marie Magdalene Dietrich on Dec. 27, 1901 in Schöneberg, a district of Berlin, Germany. At age 11, she joined her two first names to form her new name, Marlene. She attended Auguste Victoria School for Girls and studied violin between 1906 and 1918. Her dreams of becoming a concert violinist were ruined when she injured her wrist.

In the early 1920s, Dietrich became a chorus girl and played small roles in Max Reinhardt’s theater. In 1922, she made her first film debut in So sind die Männer. Marlene met her husband, Rudolf Sieber, on the set of another movie that same year. The two married in May 1924.

Dietrich began to attract more and more attention as she continued to work in film and on the stage. In 1929 she landed her breakthrough role of Lola-Lola in The Blue Angel, directed by Josef von Sternberg. With encouragement from von Sternberg, Dietrich moved to the United States on contract with Paramount Pictures. Dietrich starred in six successful films between 1930 and 1935, one of which earned her an Oscar nomination.

Supporting the Effort

After moving to the United States, Dietrich claims that she was approached by Nazi Party representatives to return to Germany. She turned them down.

In 1939, Dietrich became an American citizen.

With the beginning of U.S. involvement in the war in 1941, Dietrich became one of the first celebrities to raise war bonds. She entertained the troops on the front lines by singing and playing the musical saw. In response to being asked why she chose to do this, Dietrich replied, “It was the decent thing to do.”

MUZAK Project: Music to Make Nazi Propaganda Less Effective

The OSS’ Morale Operations (MO) Branch began producing “black” radio programs in 1943 that reached listeners all over Europe and the Mediterranean. The broadcasts were meant to create friction between the Italians, Fascists, and Nazis. The stations were jammed by the Axis on several occasions.

In 1944, “black” radio in northwest Europe had soared to new heights of sophistication. The most popular station was Soldatensender (Soldiers’ Radio). In order to hold the attention of the enemy audience, the MO decided that it needed to expand to produce higher quality programming.

The MO began to recruit Hollywood writers and talent for the MUZAK project. A special MO music department was established to write “black” lyrics for German and American songs. Famous performers, such as Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore were asked to record these songs especially for Soldatensender. Dietrich’s “Lili Marlene” was particularly popular.

Marlene Dietrich, shown at a Belgium hospital in 1944, performed 'black' songs.

The Nazi government issued warnings not to listen to Soldatensender and banned the broadcast of “Lili Marlene.” After receiving many letters from Axis soldiers to put the song back on the air, the government reluctantly gave in. “Lili Marlene” soon became the song played at the end of every broadcast.

The MO found that the “black” radio programs were particularly effective with the enemy civilian and military populations. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey discovered that the programs were just as devastating to German morale as an air raid. The “black” programs succeeded in raising the level of skepticism so high, that many people no longer believed Nazi propaganda.

Dietrich Awarded Medal of Freedom

In 1945 the U.S. government awarded Dietrich with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is one of the highest civilian awards in the United States. Dietrich said that this was the accomplishment she was most proud of in her life. She died at age 90 on May 6, 1992 in Paris.

Applications for the Undergraduate Scholarship Program are accepted from July 15 - November 1.

If you are a high school senior planning to enroll in a 4-or 5-year college program, or you are a college sophomore enrolled in a 4-or 5-year college program, who is looking for career experience in a dynamic environment, apply to the CIA's Undergraduate Scholar Program and contribute to the work of the nation before you graduate.

The opportunity to make a difference
The Undergraduate Scholar Program was developed, in part, to assist minority and disabled students, but application is open to all students who meet the requirements. The program offers unmatched experience. You'll complete work sessions during each summer break, increasing your knowledge and job responsibilities while assisting intelligence professionals and applying your academic skills.

We believe in challenging our Scholars with meaningful work that relates to their college major. An IT major, for example, might be given increasingly complex projects involving sophisticated computer systems. An engineering major might help produce a piece of state-of-the-art equipment. A finance major could be involved in developing and analyzing budgets for a worldwide operation. A foreign language major might be instrumental in translating documents for US policymakers. As a final example, a human resource major could have the opportunity to develop and implement personnel policies and procedures.

Once selected, you will be given an annual salary; a benefits package that includes health insurance, life insurance, and retirement; and up to $18,000 per calendar year for tuition, mandatory fees, books and supplies. You'll be required to work at an Agency facility during summer breaks and to maintain full-time college status during the school year with a minimum cumulative 3.0/4.0 GPA.We will pay the cost of transportation between school and the Washington, DC area each summer and provide a housing allowance.

Because the Scholar Program is an investment in you, accepting an offer means making a career choice. We ask that you agree to continue employment with the Agency after college graduation for a period equal to 1.5 times the length of your college sponsorship.

The Scholar Program is extremely competitive. We ask that all applicants meet the following requirements:

• US citizenship
• 18 years of age by April 1 of your senior year
• 1000 SAT (Math and Verbal) or 21 ACT scores or higher (high school students)
• 3.0/4.0 scale high school or college GPA or higher
• Financial need as demonstrated by the household income ceiling up to $70,000 for a family of four, and $80,000 for a family of five or more
• Meet the same employment standards as permanent employees, successfully completing both security and medical processing
• Available to work in the Washington, DC area during your periods of employment

If you are eligible for this Program, apply online between July 15 - November 1. Qualified applicants will be contacted and asked to provide the following information to supplement their online application:

• SAT or ACT scores (For high school seniors who are taking the SAT or ACT in the fall, please make note of your test date in the application package. All fall test scores must be sent (postmarked) no later than January 15.)
• Names and ages of all family dependents, and your gross family income for current and previous years.
• A copy of your most current Federal Application for Financial Student Aid Form (FAFSA) or SAR must be submitted upon request.
• A copy of your school transcripts
• Two letters of recommendation

All applicants must successfully complete a thorough medical and psychological exam, a polygraph interview and an extensive background investigation.

To be considered suitable for Agency employment, applicants must generally not have used illegal drugs within the last twelve months. The issue of illegal drug use prior to twelve months ago is carefully evaluated during the medical and security processing.

Important Notice: Friends, family, individuals, or organizations may be interested to learn that you are an applicant for or an employee of the CIA. Their interest, however, may not be benign or in your best interest. You cannot control whom they would tell. We therefore ask you to exercise discretion and good judgment in disclosing your interest in a position with the Agency. You will receive further guidance on this topic as you proceed through your CIA employment processing.

Resumes submitted before July 15 and after November 1 will not be reviewed.

To Apply:

An equal opportunity employer and a drug-free work force.

“CAP is one in the great success stories of the history of the DI."

      -- Michael Morell
         Director for
        Intelligence

The Career Analyst Program (CAP) at CIA has been hailed as one of the greatest success stories in the history of the Agency and the Directorate of Intelligence (DI). It was created by senior DI leaders in May 2000 to provide new analysts the tools and tradecraft needed to be successful intelligence analysts.

Last week, the CIA celebrated this success with the graduation of CAP’s 100^th class. Director for Intelligence Michael Morell was thrilled to open the graduation ceremony and welcome friends and family of the CAP 100 graduates. For this special occasion, colleagues filled the CIA headquarters auditorium, cheering on the graduates with an enthusiasm that would rival a college graduation. “CAP is one in the great success stories of the history of the DI,” said Morell before introducing the keynote speaker, Deputy Director Stephen Kappes.

The Creation of CAP

DI leaders created CAP eight years ago with one simple goal: to put new analysts on a path to success in the specialized and increasingly demanding profession of intelligence analysis. The course focuses on tradecraft, but also teaches analysts about the challenges of the intelligence profession: how it works, lessons learned from both our successes and failures, and how the DI must continuously improve to meet our mission.

A National Treasure

At the graduation ceremony, Deputy Director Stephen Kappes called the DI and the Career Analyst Program a national treasure.

“The United States has only one center for intelligence analysis that is global in scope and free of departmental influence. CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence has set benchmarks for analytic rigor, substantive depth, and objective integrity that are unsurpassed in the world.”

Present and past CAP graduates have seen the value of the program in the quality of their analysis.

“CAP provides analysts with a foundation of skills to be successful,” said Kate, a graduate of CAP 100. “It also allows us to network with people outside of our office and become more familiar with the Agency.”

Emilia, a graduate of the first CAP class in 2000, agrees that it is a valuable program.

“CAP quickly brought me up to speed on what exactly an analyst did and how we fit into the bigger Agency and Intelligence Community picture,” she said. “I returned to my team much more confident than when I left, and I believe that new confidence helped me make a better contribution.”

CAP Curriculum

The program currently involves 16 weeks of intensive learning of foundational analytic tradecraft and about the history, mission, and values of the Agency and the DI. CAP also places special emphasis on creating a foundation of analytic tradecraft skills for new analysts.

CAP is organized into a series of modules that fall into one of six categories that weave throughout the program:

• Critical Thinking Skills and Techniques
• Writing Skills
• Briefing Skills
• The Business of Intelligence
• Collaboration Skills
• History, Mission, and Values

CAP emphasizes learning by doing. Each module is reinforced by class participation in practical exercises. Task force exercises are used to challenge new analysts to perform demanding analytic tasks under tight deadlines, giving them practice in crisis management.

Each analyst also spends five weeks at an interim assignment to use his or her skills elsewhere in the Intelligence Community, the policy community, or the Agency.

Beyond CAP 100

The Career Analyst Program is dynamic; its curriculum continues to evolve in response to analyst and manager feedback and close collaboration with the Directorate, ensuring CAP embodies and helps lead changing DI priorities. Our goal is to instill the knowledge and skills necessary not only for how the DI operates today, but how it should operate now and in the future. The next changes to the curriculum will bring even more realism into the training environment, enabling analysts to “train like we fight.”

Visit the Intelligence & Analysis page for more information about the DI.

Related Stories:

• The People of the CIA…My First Year at the Agency: An Analyst’s Story

Statement to Employees by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Hayden on Promoting an Effective Transition

November 5, 2008

Presidential elections are a centerpiece of our democracy. Now that the American people have had their say, their federal government assumes an additional responsibility. Beyond all the tasks in place on November 4^th, the public expects us to do what we can to ensure a smooth, effective transition to a new administration. Our Agency would have it no other way.

For CIA, on duty since 1947, this is familiar ground. As intelligence officers, we know that the insights we provide are national assets, a decisive advantage for any President. We understand that our mission of protecting America and advancing its ideals and interests abroad is constant. And we recognize that the challenges facing our country, and the enemies who would do it harm, are not about to disappear for the next few months.

That means that we in the Intelligence Community will have—until noon on January 20^th—two sets of consumers. As we continue to serve the current administration, we are also in touch with President-elect Obama and his national security team. Through expanded access, greater than what he had in his briefings as a candidate or as a Senator, he will see the full range of capabilities we deploy for the United States.

As you would expect, CIA will play a central part in the Intelligence Community’s outreach to the President-elect. The Agency leadership will meet this morning to discuss the transition. We have already prepared a great deal of information about CIA for the Obama team. The goal today is to review what has been done and to ensure that every part of the Agency is well-placed to contribute in the weeks ahead. DNI McConnell, who will launch the first briefing of the incoming administration, has asked Michael Morell, our Director for Intelligence, to be his representative throughout that process. The two principal briefers for the President-elect are also CIA careerists. That is but one reflection of the deep expertise that resides here.

With every transition comes speculation about personnel changes across government. At this point, I would urge you to ignore it. I certainly have. Those privileged to lead this organization understand that they serve at the pleasure of the President. I am proud to represent you and your work to the President and the country at large. CIA has had, in the past few years, many successes against some of the toughest targets imaginable. The job of senior leadership at CIA is, more than anything, to create conditions that allow you to excel. What counts most is your further success. It is what our nation needs and deserves.

Your dedication, skill, creativity, and courage are true sources of inspiration. I have no doubt that your hard work—defined by integrity—will earn the trust and confidence of America’s new leaders, just as it has before.

Mike Hayden

Statement to Employees by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Hayden on Gratitude for Our Veterans

November 7, 2008

Earlier this week, our democracy was on full display at polling places across America. At CIA, we are ever mindful that the rights we enjoy in that democracy are preserved and passed on by each generation. And we are ever grateful for the service of those who risked and sacrificed all to protect our way of life.

On this Veterans Day, we honor not only America’s men and women in uniform, past and present, but also the thousands of Agency officers who have served beside them in conflicts since the Korean War. In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places of great danger and consequence, our colleagues today advance a strong tradition of skill and daring. Their work, along with that of all who support them at Headquarters and around the world, makes a decisive difference to our military partners and our nation’s leaders.

America’s safety is hard-won each and every day. No matter where you serve or what you do to accomplish CIA’s mission, the leadership team is grateful for your essential contributions.

Mike Hayden