Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds the following: The greatest national asset of the United States in protecting the homeland and advancing the interests of the United States abroad is the talent and diversity of the national security workforce. The United States has made important progress toward harnessing the extraordinary range of backgrounds, cultures, perspectives, skills, and experiences of the population of the United States toward keeping the United States safe and strong. The 2015 National Security Strategy recognized that the diversity of the national security workforce of the United States is a strategic asset that enhances the ability of the United States to lead on the global stage.

In March 2011, the Military Leadership Diversity Commission demonstrated that minorities and women are still underrepresented among the top leadership of the Armed Forces, as compared with the members they lead. Although African Americans, Latinos or Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians represent 34 percent of the workforce of the United States, in 2016, only 10 and 13 percent, respectively, of the senior positions in the civil service and the Foreign Service at the Department of State were occupied by members of these groups.

As of 2015, African Americans, Latinos or Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians represented only 22 percent of the officer corps of the Armed Forces, far less than the enlisted forces they lead, 40 percent of the members of which are from these groups. In the intelligence community, African Americans, Latinos or Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asians represented 24 percent of the employees, but only 11 percent of the senior positions. The percentages of Latinos or Hispanics as part of the overall Federal workforce and in senior positions in the Federal workforce are even lower, at 8 percent and 4 percent, respectively, as compared to the general population of the United States, which is 17 percent Latino or Hispanic.

Latinos or Hispanics represented only a fraction of the senior positions at the Department of State, 3 percent and 5 percent, respectively, for positions in the civil service and Foreign Service, only 1 percent for the officer corps of the Armed Forces, and 3 percent for senior positions in the intelligence community. With regard to gender diversity, of the individuals in senior positions in the civil service or the Foreign Service at the Department of State 39 percent and 31 percent are female, respectively.

For the Department of Defense, 24 percent of the individuals in senior civilian positions are female, of the senior grades of the Armed Forces, 8 percent of the officers are female, and 12 percent of enlisted members of the Armed Forces are females. Of the individuals in senior positions in the intelligence community, 29 percent are female, compared to the overall Federal workforce, which is 33.7 percent female. In concert with the findings of the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, the amendments made by section 519 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 ( Public Law 112–239 ; 126 Stat. 1721) mandated that the Armed Forces develop and implement a plan to accurately measure the efforts of the Department of Defense and Coast Guard to achieve a dynamic, sustainable level of members of the armed forces (including reserve components) that, among both commissioned officers and senior enlisted personnel of each armed force, will reflect the diverse population of the United States eligible to serve in the armed forces, including gender specific, racial, and ethnic populations. .

The amendments made by section 1011 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 ( Public Law 108–458 ; 118 Stat. 3643) called on the intelligence community to prescribe personnel policies and programs that ensure its personnel are sufficiently diverse for purposes of the collection and analysis of intelligence through the recruitment and training of women, minorities, and individuals with diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds . The Department of State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017 ( Public Law 114–323 ), urges the State Department to promote a diverse representation among mid- and senior-level career professionals and section 101 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 ( 22 U.S.C. 3901 ) urges the Department of State to develop policies to encourage the entry into and advancement in the Foreign Service by persons from all segments of American society.

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