Secretary of State Anthony Blinken released a statement Wednesday announcing the creation of a new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO) position.
“The State Department has the honor of representing the American people to the world. To do that well, we must recruit and retain a workforce that truly reflects America. Diversity and inclusion make us stronger, smarter, more creative, and more innovative … Our diversity gives us a significant competitive advantage on the world stage,” the press statement read.
.@POTUS, @VP, and I firmly believe that our diversity gives us significant competitive advantage on the world stage. To bring @StateDept‘s diversity and inclusion work to the next level, I’m pleased to announce the creation of a new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer position.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 24, 2021
Blinken went on to say that it is a goal of the State Department to “incorporate diversity and inclusion into the Department’s work at every level.” (RELATED: Defense Secretary: Pentagon Will Review Diversity In Military)
He called on other federal departments to enact a similar position. “Building a diverse and inclusive culture cannot only be a top-down effort. We need bureaus and teams across the department to join in this work and make it their own,” Blinken said.
“Our efforts now will lay the foundation for a more diverse and inclusive State Department for years to come,” the Secretary of State concluded.
Blinken isn’t the first high-ranking government official to call for more diversity within the military and the federal bureaucracy. In June 2020, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced a new internal “Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion in the Military” in order “to develop concrete, actionable recommendations to increase racial diversity and ensure equal opportunity across all ranks.”