EL PASO Texas
A spy who spent three decades undercover made his first public appearance Monday to speak in support of recruiting people from diverse backgrounds for intelligence work.
“In my service, 14 percent of the work force are minority. We are working very hard to turn this around. Simply put, we need people with diverse ethnic backgrounds to support data collection around the world,” said Jose Rodriguez, director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, the El Paso Times reported in its online edition Monday.
Rodriguez said he had his cover lifted about a month ago because of his interest in publicly participating in minority recruitment events, such as the border security conference at the University of Texas-El Paso where he spoke Monday. He’s also retiring later this year.
“By hiring men and women with broad backgrounds, we effectively minimize the likelihood of group think … We equate diversity with diversity of thought,” he said.
A native of Puerto Rico, Rodriguez said his own diverse background was helpful to his career and to the agency. He spent much of his career in Latin America after joining the CIA in 1976.
Rodriguez served as deputy chief of the Counternarcotics Center, director of the Counterterrorism Center and deputy director of operations, according to a short biography in the conference program.
