For years, U.S. spy agencies have acknowledged they need a more diverse workforce to help understand increasingly complex threats and interpret foreign cultures.They are making progress toward that goal—except at the top.

Years of studies, recommendations and promises have had limited impact on reshaping the upper echelons of the U.S. intelligence community, comprising 17 civilian and military agencies and offices, according to current and former officials and workforce statistics.

This year, the United States and its allies have sustained pressure against key terrorist organizations, including al-Qa’ida, ISIS, and groups aligned with Iran, disrupting numerous plots and further diminishing their ability to target the United States and U.S. interests overseas.

WASHINGTON D.C. - Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe today issued the following statement:

"Earlier today I shared with Congressional leadership my proposal on how the IC will share election threat updates with Congress. My position remains unchanged. Consistent with my August 28 letter to Congress, I will continue to provide Congressional leadership and the intelligence oversight committees appropriate updates to keep Congress fully and currently informed. In order to protect sources and methods, the IC will not provide all-member briefings, but we will work to provide appropriate updates primarily through written finished intelligence products."

“I remember that day as clearly as yesterday.”

It has been 19 years since the tragic attacks in New York, NY, Arlington, VA, and Shanksville, PA. Nearly 3,000 of our friends, family members, neighbors and colleagues never made it home that night.

For David Pan, a career intelligence officer who was inside the Pentagon on the fateful morning of September 11, 2001, these events changed his life forever. Pan was fortunate to make it out of the Pentagon alive; however, the emotional impact the day made on him is everlasting.

By: Christopher Miller, National Counterterrorism Center Director

Remnants of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization that launched the 9/11 terror attacks 19 years ago remain active throughout the world. But it is now possible to see the contours of how the war against al-Qaeda ends.

The United States had three aims in this war: strengthen the country’s border defenses, pursue our enemies and facilitate our allies’ ability to lead the counterterrorism fight. We have succeeded in making it extremely difficult for terrorists to enter the United States to conduct cataclysmic attacks, and we have bolstered our allies’ capabilities.