All witnesses. Please discuss the profile of persons of diverse backgrounds within your organization and then for the record, the Committee Requests the addition of grade, years of service and career categories to the annual be added to the annual demographic report. Mr. Coker, why dont you begin . We took a look at our great profile, gg 12 and 13 as recently required by our manager from her directive, 715. We noticed there was a gap there between minority and nonminority and that triggered further analysis. We are in the midst of a study we began in march of this year and expect to complete this fall, september 2019, to take a look at why that gap and promotion rate. Not likely to be one particular item but nonetheless evil have data to support some understanding of that gap. In terms of its effects i can tell you our current senior profile for Senior Officers 32 is female which is good and our minority representation at the senior ranks, nsa, 15 and for people with disabilities it is 7 senior ranks. Recently elevated 61 nsa employees to the senior ranks and it was relatively consistent in this most recent elevation cycle, 20 women, 6 people with disability and 50 minorities. Do you have an opportunity brief and if so, how often the person at the top on the numbers in the gaps in light you believe those gaps are there. How often do you have an opportunity to discuss those numbers with the person at the top . I share a suite with general [inaudible] and Deputy Director and we talk regularly about these numbers in the importance of the supporting in america. Back to the big six on diversity and inclusion, two of those big items were a National Security agency are entering the pipeline is in place for seniors and Senior Leadership accountability for diversity and inclusion. The latter one on the senior champion for. I speak with the director and Deputy Director on a regular basis and just as importantly, our board of directors which is another very senior level National Security agency we have a monthly report from our workforce support activity that talks about the metrics and demographics at the various grades at nsa. Like you miss being him. Yes, maam. If i can make three general trends. Although progress for percentage of the workforce are women have been stagnating or declining in the last eight years we are seeing a promotion of women to the gs 13 and above levels, generally at a higher percentage than with men however, minority promotions from gs 13 level through seniorlevel still remain a challenge and a work in progress. I am one of the seniors there receive the separation and although i knew we had several initiatives in multiple dimensions of the challenge it was not until recently the data had been presented to me and frankly, part of the reason we wanted to write the placement today is wanted to be transparent and candid about where we have challenges and i was a, they depart inside with women and minorities whether recruiting, promotion, retention we have significant challenges that we have to work at Getting Better at and would like to work in partnership. Mrs. Simpson. Yes, thank you. I look at the minority women and persons with disabilities across trinity and we are seeing the same trends that ms. Bingham and mr. Coker both referenced individually within elements and collectively across the enterprise. Minorities are about 60 or 60 of minorities are between the g11 ng 13 pay grade and those numbers as you would guess steadily decrease over the higher pay grade. Women are promoted at a rate that is higher than our overall representation overseen promises areas there and persons with disability are also left and then representing in comparison to their overall representation of the population as you go to the senior ranks. Some of the things we are doing to address that include mentoring, sponsorship programs and what we call summits, where we get the workplace together around. This year we had over 500 women attend the icy summit and focused on networking and the Court Leadership skill expandinl branding and the effect of a sponsorship and the full range of skills that women can acquire internal to be more competitive. The more important thing is to enlist the visibility of our allies and to not just be able of problems that the looks the same but exposing the entire workforce and providing opportunities to assist one another. Mr. Chairman, may i continue . Mrs. Simpson, you spoke earlier about the impact of having to meet for applicants who might be qualified and ready to go to work with the exception of the background checks, security track and talked about the possibility of bringing them in the jobs that dont necessarily require that level of security but to hold onto them. Have you implemented or is that something youre working on doing . If a Pilot Program that nga has become. The buildings in which we work are highly secure so finding the appropriate assignment that can keep a person fully employed at that level will be one of the challenges and be able to give them access to space will be another challenge. But these are things we can try to address. On the front and we are attempting to be far more transparent communities to help them understand what the security clearance process is to begin with. What is entailed in the process and why is it the song. And to encourage them that dont illuminate yourself from the process because it is just that. It is surmountable and you can get security clearance. Do you believe minority communities, or even aware, of the opportunities within the icy community . Ive certainly been a part of College Fairs and job fairs at all levels and theres a lot of organizations in different careers and professions that are represented but never have i or do i remember the Intelligence Community opportunity even introduced at the community level. Would you say that the challenge . Minority Communities Just dont understand the opportunities that exist and if you agree with that, how can we work to improve and educate and increase our awareness within the community. There has been a cultural shift within the Intelligence Community in itself and our culture has been secretive and over recent years we become far more transparent and with that degree of transparency weve been able to have a a high touch in terms of Community Access and involvement. I think thats what we have to continue to trend to do. This year we were involved in a number of very large stem conferences and we presented at those conferences and we were not just in the recruitment but a part of the panel and brought officers of very diverse backgrounds to talk about their experiences in the community in the range of careers that are offered within that community. It is a barrier, if you will, to access to information or underserved communities. I had no clue there was such a thing called the Intelligence Community but inside there was a place for you o or absolutely and there really is and i think these are the kind of things we have to be able to tell our stories. The power of storytelling is that im a member of the Intelligence Community and have been for ten years and the people who i see and meet the opportunities all around the world is every career field you can think of exists within this community and its global and 365 days of the year, 247. There is something in the community for everyone and if they know about it then they can do that and be a part of it. Weve been realizing can be everywhere so there are opportunities to Virtual Career fairs and we have one next week, Intelligence CommunityVirtual Career fair and that can reach anybody who has a computer or cell phone can plug in and chat with people in the Intelligence Community. Thats a big plus but technology alone will not do it but we have to have stronger and better relationships with every academic institution, professional organization et cetera. Okay. Thank you. Did you want to add something to mac. If i may, man. Its important for us to get out to the communities and one reason we want to get out beyond that is because we need to get to that part of the nation that are not sufficiently exposed to the opportunities and i can tell you personally i was able to talk to a hispanic professional engineers a year and half ago and we had a recruiting there but we acknowledge nsas efforts outreach efforts and the Hispanic Latino Research Group is active and realizes the nation has a stake in what we do there. [inaudible] teach cryptography 101 to a school that is often overlooked and i was delighted i got to go there because it was energizing and those young fourth and fifth graders pick that information up and excited them and demonstrated to myself and some colleagues were with me that we have a talent pool that we are not optimizing and to follow along with that let me look at my schedule later today at the prep session to get down to Baltimore City and meet the superintendent of schools there to talk about how we can alter a strong relationship between nsa and Baltimore City. Not just baltimore i was going to say dont leave out the rest of your country. Thank you. I go back. Thank you. Mr. Welch mac thank you. That started going to the school is wonderful and we may get them genius cryptographer that would have some inspired kids so thank you. Im going to yield my time to the person whose been our leader on this. That is a course representative school. Thank you, very much for all youve done. Thank you for yielding. Thank you all for being here. I fall on the same line of questioning my colleagues did that your outreach is definitely critically important, not only in creating a pipeline of Diverse Talent to come into the workforce but dispelling what has been a tenuous feelings in our Minority Community with government generally and with the cia and fbi reticular nsa in particular and would be remiss if we do not think that what happened in the 1960s and 70s in terms of targeting civil rights organizations by an fbi and the cia civil rights leaders how that frankly, how that co intel pro and all of that is a story history that we have to overcome and so i would encourage all of us who are part and to have more. Outreach in that regard. I wanted to ask a question about how icd is with managers who, at a minimum, do not get promoted and managers who do not promote an inclusive workforce. What happens to those managers within the icy . I dont know if you talk ms. Simpson creating a more inclusive environment. Recently we have incorporated performance objective into the Senior Executive in many agencies in all management objectives and they include a dimension where it is clear that the response ability of managers and supervisors to promote a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Have you seen cases in which they have engaged in unacceptable conduct . But have not been adversely affected in any way. Does that happen and if so, what we do to mitigate that in todays culture . Part of my role is equal Employment Opportunity. We are take those matters very seriously and some are not reported there. There is a challenge of underreporting but those things we are made aware of we address and we address immediately. Sometimes its not the most popular thing for a person to be disciplined but it is what has to happen for the workforce to have confidence in the system. In 2018 how many ceos investigations took place why . Pgh. I dont have that number. Can you get that for us can. Yes. Can you assure an underrepresented minority or physically challenged applicants to the icy that they work on a level Playing Field and not face harassment or discrimination, listing on can we make those assurances and if so, how can we what are we doing and what is the agency doing to make that right . I would like my personal commitment to it and i can say across the board that we are strong as we need to be in seen positive trends. For example, persons with disability and the Defense Intelligence and the racine recruitment intention of those folks of rates that are checking pretty well to what were seen across the federal workforce. I can say in all areas it goes back to having the data is i dont have the data on some of these protective classes to present that to you. Its an area im committed to but i need to have more fulsome data to provide you that pictu picture. Ms. Samson, [inaudible] the claims, are they, what portion for the completed versus the agency, do you know that . I did have that figure because we were looking at some but i dont have it off the top of my head. The majority of cases are not in favor of being complete because burden of proof in our legal system resides with the complaint and and thats not to be said that we dont have cases that clearly where they have prevailed in those matters but my philosophy is lets not wait until we get all the way to trial and not focusing on early conflict resolution and intervention because trials do take years to come due and we dont want those issues within the workplace to permeate that will so my focus is more on the proactive prevention of dissemination and being prompt to remedy it even without a finding from any kind of adjudicative body. If we can and it within our power to make change at the early stage and that is what we need to do. I had a breathing recently about the cia and their manager and they had 18 cases and more cases had 18 being investigated and in previous years if theres any indication all of them go to the agency not being appalled and i want to make sure because a lot of underreporting goes on and i think when you have results that show complaint and is not heard or was hard but never at fault always at fault but not the agency that attracts for people wanting to bring so we have to create an environment that on the frontend we are receptive but also need to drill down on those numbers to see if we are getting to the heart of the problem which is dissemination. Right. Things. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to go back the favorite topic of security clearance. I want to make sure i understood what i heard this morning correctly i think it was security with the Ranking Member we all know it could stipulate here to the fact that the security clearance taking way too long to complete the what i think i heard is that our efforts to recruit divers candidates are disproportionately impacted by that protracted process. Would that be your perspective . I would not pull the string that far but what i did say is in relation to having to wait to financially for a security clearance for anyone, whether or not you follow a minority. You do not believe that is true . We have a general problem not an additional specific problem with respect to attempting to recruit divers candidates . Before i can make that conclusion i need to look at the specific of what i did say is that there are specific if i could i would have to say there is a general problem and i dont have the data as well to give you mr. Coker. Thank you. I think its more socioeconomic whether they can afford to wait. We thank you have a different proportion asian [inaudible] would it not stand to reason against general publishing data that that would more apply to divers candidates . Im not able to make that connection but we just cant afford to wait. Its a problem we need to fix agree. I dont think we can achieve the demographic diversity we all seek if we dont also take into account your graphic diversity. My perspective is strongly held based solely on anecdotal evidence that there seems to be a bit of a bias east of the mississippi or east of the rockies in that our efforts to have people within the icy reflect the geographic diversity of this country are falling short as well. I think that relates to todays topic is we have a lot of pretty incredible outstanding diverse candidates in the left as well and i dont think we can afford to turn a blind eye to geographic region in this country and in furtherance of our shared goal of increased diversity. Mr. Coker are giving me a lot of affirming head nods. Weigh in, sir. I absolutely agree. A couple initiatives we are stating to get outside of the beltway if you will include our general fiber, weeklong cyber camps we have targeted early to our middle schools and High Schoolers in more than 40 states plus the district of columbia and puerto rico. He gets to go west, young man. Yes, sir were out there past mississippi but in addition to the. Your graphic diversity that helps with our recruitment of women and that is not the intent of the program but when we are exposing capabilities and mission it does excite the folks. I think its roughly 80 of Computer Science students are women and in the general cyber camps more than 40 of the participants are girls and likewise, marty 40 of the participants are minorities. We partnered with the girl scouts of america and the feedback from their parents has been that their daughters are more excited about technology and more excited about college so were pressing on that as well. I will add, sir, on the centers for academic excellence, Cyber Defense that National SecurityAgency Partners with ghs. We are in every state with the exception of two plus dc and frederico. Those 270 plus colleges and universities have the opportunity to expose our mission and develop expertise. So, i think the data suggest that with respect to your diversity agreement efforts you had Noble Success in the stem fields particular and are there any efforts, one or two efforts, contributing to that above and beyond what you mentioned to the congresswomen or just to me just now. What accounts for the success . What are the best practices here