The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) held an appreciation dinner for leaders of the Arab American and Chaldean community on Wednesday at the Westin Hotel in Southfield.

CIA Associate Deputy Director Scott White

Members of the Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO), the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Lebanese American Heritage Club of Dearborn were among those who attended the dinner in the CIA’s “Top Secret Lounge.”
It was a night of mingling and learning about the roles of the CIA and their current initiative to diversify a workforce that has grown a bit stale in that department over the years. Members of the CIA flew in from Langley, Virginia, home of the CIA’s headquarters, for the event, including Pattie Kindsvater, Special Assistant to the Director for Diversity Plans and Programs at the CIA.

“We have to make our workforce look like the country,” said Kindsvater.

“Right now if you go eat in the CIA’s cafeteria, that’s not the case.”

The CIA has expanded its recruiting efforts in the Arab American sphere in recent months, including a similar “Top Secret Lounge” recruiting tent at the Dearborn Arab International Festival this past summer in Dearborn.

Kindsvater was able to land a job in the CIA in large part to her fluency in Russian more than three decades ago, which was considered a rare, important skill at the time. Now, the CIA is looking for similar bilingual job applicants who speak languages deemed important in today’s world political climate such as Arabic and Chinese.

CIA Associate Deputy Director Scott White spoke at the dinner and reminded the audience that the agency has 90 different career paths for people with varying professional skills and that they are looking to hire.

“Only a fraction of our people actually work undercover,” said White, noting that there are a lot of myths about employment at the CIA. “We’re looking to hire for a variety of people, from scientists and doctors to human resources people and more.”

CIA Midwest Regional Recruiter Henry Medina came in from Chicago for the dinner and talked about the hiring practices of the agency.

“We’ve seen a steady increase in minority interest in hiring due to our hard work in the area,” he said. Medina said that around 30% of the CIA’s recent hires have been ethnic minorities.

He also noted that the CIA offers a chance to work for an organization with stable government funding, offering extra job security in a time when many corporations are being forced to file for bankruptcy and are laying off employees in record numbers.

CIA Program Manager for Middle Eastern American Outreach, Zahra Roberts, helped organize the event. She talked about the CIA’s role in reaching out to the Arab community in southeast Michigan.

“We’ve been coming up to Michigan for a number of years and this seemed like a good time for us to convey to them how much we appreciate their support,” she said.

“People read books and see movies like “The Bourne Identity” and James Bond but that’s not what it’s really about. We want to get the leaders and senior members to understand what we really do and hope that will have a trickle down effect to encourage family members to apply to our agency.”

For more information on the CIA and for job information, go to www.cia.gov.