Corri Zoli
Corri Zoli, associate teaching professor in the College of Law and director of research for the Institute for Security Policy and Law, and Brian Holmes, dean of the Oettinger School of Science and Technology Intelligence at the National Intelligence University in Maryland, co-authored an op-ed for Signal titled “Intelligence Strategy Highlights Workforce.”
Zoli also serves as co-investigator and faculty advisor for the University’s new Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (ICCAE). ICCAE began in 2019 and is a competitive program funded by the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which partners with universities across the country to help increase the diversity of the U.S. intelligence workforce. Currently, Syracuse’s program offers coursework for both undergraduate and graduate students, with the hopes of preparing them for work in one of the 17 U.S. intelligence community agencies.
Zoli explains that many who work in the intelligence community never planned to do so, however this pattern must change to meet America’s need for a more diverse and talented government workforce. Zoli says it is the responsibility of leaders in the federal government to take a “proactive stance” in breaking the cycle of an “overly homogeneous workforce” in the intelligence community.
Zoli writes that research shows “intelligence community agencies would benefit from socially diverse groups, which are more innovative and better at solving complex non-routine problems,” which is why Syracuse created the Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence. While the creation of institutions such as ICCAE are a step in the right direction, Zoli says that more improvements are needed, such as increasing the number of diverse employees at high pay grades and building an intelligence community culture with more inclusion.
Ultimately Zoli believes that The National Intelligence Strategy has created the groundwork to diversify and improve the intelligence community workforce, and it is now up to collaboration between talented students, institutions and the government to create national change.
To read the essay in its entirety, visit afcea.org.
Syracuse University media relations team members work regularly with the campus community to secure placements of op-eds. Anyone interested in writing an op-ed should first review the University’s op-ed guidelines and email media@syr.edu.
