Remember when the CIA was this ultra-cool agency?
The tough guys who kept the world safe through covert operations in exotic countries?
The agency that inspires shows like “Jack Ryan” and “Homeland?”
Well, apparently, the CIA is recruiting.
But if you think they’re looking for the toughest, smartest, spymasters — think again.
This is what Newsweek reports about the CIA’s recruiting efforts:
new recruitment video from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been widely panned on social media for its use of terms that critics have described as “woke.”
The CIA shared the video on its Twitter account on April 28 but reaction to the ad has grown over the past few days. Many critics weighed in on the matter on Sunday. The video features a CIA officer, Mija, describing her own experience.
“I am unapologetically me. I want you to be unapologetically you, whoever you are. Whether you work at #CIA, or anywhere else in the world,” the tweet read. “Command your space. Mija, you are worth it.”
Ah yes, because that’s exactly what we want in our CIA officers.
An anxious L’oreal commercial model.
Here’s some more of the “woke” script thanks to Summit News:
“I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box checking exercise,” she adds, after having ticked a whole raft of ‘diversity’ boxes and showing off her ‘Donald R. Cryer award for diversity and inclusion.’
She then begins rambling on about not allowing her inflection to rise at the end of her sentences and having “earned her way in” (but not by checking diversity boxes, surely?).
“I used to struggle with imposter syndrome, but at 36, I refuse to internalize misguided patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be,” she states, once again definitely not trying to tick diversity boxes.
Twitter, expectedly, had a lot to say about this:
Watch this insane CIA recruitment video & tell me the CIA isn’t a woke swamp creature… capable & willing to weaponize their power to target their political opponents: conservatives.
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) May 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/aishaismad/status/1388963034274701316
It's simpler than either of these & not even properly cynical. The CIA saw a loss in diversity, which is a concern for any employer. They hired a firm to make ads to attract young diversity hires. Ad firms are used to woke marketing now, so they cooked up a few cringeworthy ads. https://t.co/E7AHHKgUuN
— Sturgeon's Law (@Sturgeons_Law) May 3, 2021
According to Fox News:
Former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright took issue with the video, tweeting: “The CIA used to be about mission to country. (I speak from experience). Now it’s now about demanding — and getting — accommodation to fix an emotional wound or advance a personal agenda. America is less safe with this new CIA, and dangerously more political.”
“This CIA recruitment video is a joke and truly embarrassing for our entire country,” “The View” co-host Meghan McCain agreed. ” China, Russia and our enemies are laughing at us.”
“The CIA just released a recruitment video full of woke propaganda and America’s enemies are laughing their heads off. @CIA,” Dinesh D’Souza reiterated.
Fox News contributor Rachel Campos Duffy noted that the unnamed agent appears to list “all her identities (intersectional, cis gender, millennial woman of color with anxiety disorder) EXCEPT American. God help us,” she wrote.
Political commentator Liz Wheeler tweeted, “Watch this insane CIA recruitment video & tell me the CIA isn’t a woke swamp creature… capable & willing to weaponize their power to target their political opponents: conservatives.”
Director and producer Robby Starbuck also weighed in.
“This is a real video released by the CIA,” he wrote alongside the clip. “Every institution is being destroyed by the woke left. If we don’t stop this, [the U.S.] will fall. I bet instead of waterboarding, they’ll unleash real torture on terrorists: Listening to ‘progressives’ talk for hours about every social issue.”
Glenn Greenwald, who, among others, was awarded a Pulitzer for his reporting about government surveillance programs, tweeted: ‘Lots of people who pay no attention to the CIA and the security state seem to think this CIA video is the first time they’ve promoted, endorsed and embraced woke ideology…They’ve been doing it for years. I wrote about back in 2015.”
“Biden is turning every U.S. institution into an embarrassing freak show,” Daily Wire reporter Ryan Saavedra wrote. “The world is laughing at us.”
Ridiculous and hilarious as this ad is, it’s really not that funny when you think about it.
When agencies tasked with protecting the country and pre-empting foreign attacks seem more concerned with appeasing a certain section of society instead of choosing people who are best suited for the positions, we are all in trouble.
I’m glad Mija thinks she is “worth it”.
The question is, is this kind of recruitment “worth it” for America?
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