Jim Jordan launches inquiry into FBI's diversity employment practices
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, has launched an inquiry into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's diversity, equity and inclusion hiring and employment practices.
In a letter sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday, Jordan alleged that the bureau "has struggled with attracting enough qualified applicants from all desired target groups to sustain its mission" because of "the FBI re-focusing its recruitment efforts on DEI statistics."
"The FBI's hyper-fixation on hitting Biden Administration-imposed DEI initiatives, rather than qualifications that make the best federal law enforcement candidates and officers, has created a climate within the FBI that puts the American public and American civil liberties at risk," wrote Jordan, citing an FBI memo leaked last year that expressed concern over "radical-traditionalist" Catholics and the arrest of pro-life activist Mark Houck in 2022.
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Jordan asked Wray to provide the Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government documents showing how many FBI staff are employed in DEI roles, documents listing incentives for meeting DEI goals, recruitment data for the past 10 years and all documents "referring or relating to the FBI's implementation of the Biden Administration's DEI Executive Orders."
Jordan requested the information be provided no later than 5 p.m. on May 20.
Wray was nominated director of the FBI by then-President Donald Trump in 2017. He assumed the role that August and championed the need to better diversify the bureau.
"The reality is we are very focused on trying to make sure our workforce better reflects America," he said before the International Association of Chiefs of Police shortly after becoming director, reported The Wall Street Journal.
"And it doesn't as much as it should, not nearly. A lot of attention is being paid to it. We are starting to see some progress. But I'm impatient with the level of progress we have achieved."
When he took office, around 67% of the FBI's 13,000 agents were white men and 16% were white women, with 4.4% African American and about 7% Hispanic, reported the WSJ.
Although the FBI apologized for the "Radical Traditionalist Catholic" memo, saying it did not meet the "exacting standards of the FBI," U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz submitted a report to Congress last month concluding that there was no "inappropriate" targeting of religious groups.
