Background

On February 4, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Memorandum on Revitalizing America’s Foreign Policy and National Security Workforce, Institutions, and Partnerships, establishing an interagency working group tasked with “strengthen[ing] diversity and inclusion by sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, and economic, regional, and immigrant backgrounds, including at senior level.”  The White House released a three-year anniversary Fact Sheet on NSM-3.  In response, a coalition of organizations sent the following letter.

Open Letter to the Biden Administration  

Dear National Security Advisor Sullivan: 

We write to acknowledge the important progress made by the Biden administration to ensure that our  national security and foreign policy workforce reflects the diversity of the American public. By  prioritizing policies that provide opportunities for all Americans to serve our country, including  individuals from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups, the Biden administration has  tapped into the comparative advantage of our nation to strengthen our national security. Although more  work remains, we are appreciative of your efforts to create a more inclusive government. 

It has been just over three years since President Biden signed the National Security Memorandum on  Revitalizing America’s Foreign Policy and National Security Workforce, Institutions, and Partnerships (NSM-3), which, among other things, established the Biden administration’s policy “to prioritize  diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as a national security imperative, in order to ensure critical  perspectives and talents are represented in the national security workforce.” NSM-3 created a new  Interagency Working Group on the National Security Workforce (“NSM-3 Working Group”) tasked with  1) identifying proposals to more effectively recruit and retain national security employees, 2) improving  the ability of the national security workforce to attract and accommodate individuals with disabilities, and  3) assessing reforms to eliminate bias in the security clearance process, among other actions.   

Since the issuance of NSM-3, and consistent with other government-wide initiatives with similar goals,¹  the Biden administration has made tangible progress in achieving a strengthened national security  workforce that more fully reflects the country it serves, including by:  

● Convening the first-ever meeting between a U.S. national security advisor and leadership from  Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to discuss recruitment of talent from  HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions; 

● Significantly expanding the number of paid internships and fellowships at the State Department,  USAID, and the Department of Defense, providing more opportunities to a larger pool of young  people;  

● Hiring more chief diversity officers and senior advisors on workplace safety and harassment,  which can promote transparency and accountability within agencies;  

● Creating a Retention Unit within the State Department to collect and analyze data on employee  attrition and retention; and  

● Establishing a Disability Resource Center in USAID to better support current and prospective  employees with disabilities.  

We applaud these efforts, which demonstrate the Biden administration’s commitment to supporting  America’s diverse national security and foreign policy workforce. As you seek to build off these  

successes in the coming year, we offer the following recommendations, consistent with the principles and  requirements found in NSM-3:  

● Publicly and Regularly Release an NSM-3 Progress Report. NSM-3 correctly acknowledges  that “the revitalization of our national security and foreign policy workforce requires a  recommitment to the highest standards of transparency.” Section 9 of NSM-3 directed you to  provide a report to the President on implementation of the memorandum by February 2023, with  the report being made public “to the maximum extent possible.” To date, no such report has been  made public. We urge its prompt release. Additionally, we encourage you to make public the  annual NSM-3 Working Group reports required under Section 3(d).  

● Ensure Full Participation of the National Security Community. While your February 2024  fact sheet marking the third anniversary of NSM-3 included useful updates on the actions taken  by several agencies to implement NSM-3, information on several agencies from the NSM-3  Working Group was missing, most notably the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of  Investigation. We have concerns that their absence reflects reluctance to implement NSM-3, and  we recommend that you take all necessary actions to ensure their meaningful engagement. 

● Maintain and Institutionalize Agency Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers (CDIOs). The  administration should not shy away from ensuring that every agency has a senior-level CDIO  reporting directly to a Secretary-level official. CDIOs can play valuable roles in assisting agency  leadership with identifying policies and practices that create barriers to recruiting and maintaining  an engaged and representative workforce. These non-political roles should be filled by  individuals with substantive experience in organizational management and a demonstrated  understanding of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility issues. To promote greater  transparency and support for the use of CDIOs, the administration should create an interagency  federal CDIO council. In addition, to ensure that CDIO functions are sustained, the administration  should promptly fill current vacancies. 

● Prioritize Accountability. Holding perpetrators of bullying, discrimination, and harassment  accountable is critical to ensuring a safe workplace for all employees, regardless of demographic  background. Underrepresented groups and others on the periphery of power tend to be the most  vulnerable to abuse. We recommend that the NSM-3 Working Group prioritize developing and  strengthening concrete accountability mechanisms, such as: Ensuring that sexual harassment policies are clear and consistent across agencies; o Expanding the use of full-time Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Counselors,  consistent with EEO Management Directive-110;  

o Promoting government-wide bystander intervention training; and 

o Developing public facing “Workforce Dashboards” that detail demographics across  career fields and grade levels. 

● Promote Efforts to Reduce Religious Identity Bias. While the administration has committed to  regularly analyzing data on diversity trends within organizations, people of faith or no faith have  no way to voluntarily disclose when they fall under the protected class of religion. As a result,  agencies are unable to analyze religion-related (disaggregated) data to identify barriers for  recruitment, retention and promotion to ensure its workforce is truly representative. Inclusive  America, in partnership with Muslim Americans in Public Service, has proposed an executive  order to address this and related challenges to combating discrimination on the basis of religious  belief and affiliation. 

While none of these recommendations will lead to results overnight, the challenges are too great to  ignore. Demographic data continues to show that senior leadership in national security and foreign policy institutions is not reflective of the American people. We reject the notion that women, people of color,  individuals with disabilities, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups  are less willing to serve the public, and we applaud the Biden administration for its work to address these   gaps. Through sustained efforts, we can achieve a national security and foreign policy workforce that  meaningfully represents the U.S. population, which will make our country stronger. 

Signatories