House Republicans expressed concern on Wednesday that the intelligence community (IC) would hamper its effectiveness and disadvantage minority employees by enforcing the administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandate.
“It’s not a train wreck that’s coming years from now. It’s within a few weeks,” said Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Ill., during a House Intelligence Committee hearing.
Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., kicked off his questions by asking CIA Director William Burns: “Is the agency prepared to terminate hundreds, if not thousands, of CIA employees, case officers and intelligence professionals if the vaccine is not abided by?”
Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., arrives to the Capitol before the House vote on an impeachment inquiry resolution on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Burns said the agency was “fortunate” to have a 97% vaccination rate among employees but that he might have to terminate hundreds if it comes to that.
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“We’ll follow the process that’s been laid out under the law but potentially it could come to that,” Burns said.
Both LaHood and Stewart worried about the national security implications of losing employees because of the mandate. The IC, LaHood suggested, should wait to implement the president’s mandate until the Supreme Court issued a decision on various legal challenges.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testifies during the House Intelligence Committee hearing titled Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Intelligence Community: An Enduring Mission Imperative, in the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Wednesday’s hearing, which was intended to focus on diversity in the IC, came just weeks before deadlines set for federal employees and contractors to obtain the vaccine.
Stewart suggested that the vaccine mandate could lead to a disproportionate decrease in minority employees. “This is enormously important and we seem to be walking blindly towards it. We may fire a meaningful portion of our intelligence community, including a disproportionate number of our minority intelligence officials,” he said.
(L-R) CIA Director William Burns and Director of the National Security Agency Gen. Paul Nakasone testify during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Oct. 27, 2021 in Washington, D.C. The committee held a hearing on diversity and inclusion in the Intelligence Community. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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He claimed to know of an unnamed Black employee who previously had COVID-19 and wanted to avoid the vaccine as she approached pregnancy, later adding that she had been denied a medical exemption.
Both Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines noted during the hearing that individuals could seek medical and religious exemptions to the mandate.
Haines responded, in part, by saying she didn’t anticipate the mandate affecting her agency’s mission.
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“I look at ODNI [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] and it’s actually – the numbers are quite small in terms of ones that have indicated that they are not vaccinated,” she said. Stewart countered by saying that not all agencies were like ODNI, prompting Haines to say she would let others speak for themselves.
Haines added that “there is vaccine hesitancy in minority populations at a greater rate than there is in other [populations] and it is something that we have been addressing.”
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