FBI Director Testifies About Hiring, Diversifying The Bureau

May 20, 2009 12:20 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) continues to develop its human resources department as the agency struggles to find quality applicants during an economic downturn and as the bureau transitions to an intelligence gathering organization.

FBI Director Robert Mueller was on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on some of the steps his agency has taken as it continues to evolve in a post 9/11 world.

"We know that people are the FBI's best and strongest asset-one we must capitalize on to achieve our mission," Mueller told lawmakers. We have been hard at work building a strong human resources program to ensure we have the optimum recruiting, hiring, training, and retention practices for our employees."

"The changing workforce of the United States will have different expectations than previous generations, challenging the FBI to evolve its career development practices and offer new opportunities for growth in order to attract talent. We must also continue to enhance our intelligence capabilities, adding to the skill sets of on-board employees," Mueller said.

"Historically, the FBI has attracted recruits from the law enforcement, legal, and military communities, particularly to fill our special agent ranks. This has served us well as a law enforcement agency. But as we develop into a national security agency, we also require employees with specialized skills-intelligence analysts, surveillance specialists, scientists, linguists, and computer experts," Mueller explained.

"Our hiring for FY 2009 includes goals to bring on board approximately 2,800 professional staff, including intelligence analysts, information technology specialists, language specialists, and 850 new agents. Through our recruiting efforts, we have received more than 450,000 applications. We have extended more than 5,500 job offers and continue to work through the tremendous response from Americans who want to dedicate their careers to public service," Mueller added.

"Diversity in the FBI workforce is one of my top human resource priorities," Mueller admitted. "Improving the diversity of our workforce at every level of the organization requires a top-to-bottom effort to recruit, train, retain, and promote qualified women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. For example, for some time now, we have been recruiting aggressively in historically black colleges, through the association of Hispanic colleges, and at tribal universities. We have also been placing targeted ads in minority-oriented radio programs, periodicals, job fairs, and other venues that are designed to reach minority communities. We have made progress in our efforts to diversify the FBI, but much work remains to be done."