Diversity & Inclusion

At CSIS, we believe that harnessing the talents of diverse individuals is a critical component of maintaining CSIS’s position as an industry leader in national security and foreign policy. We strive to create an environment where people of all backgrounds are heard and included. This includes recruiting and supporting a diverse staff as well as engaging a broader community through our events, roundtables, working groups, and publications.

We value diversity across many facets, encompassing a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, and we recognize that we must be intentional in our work to achieve a diverse and inclusive environment. Effectively integrating diverse perspectives into our work will drive greater innovation and strengthen our core mission to advance practical ideas to address the world’s greatest challenges.

A Letter From Our President and CEO

We live in a rapidly changing world fraught with numerous crises, growing polarization in politics, and escalating tensions within and across borders. With increasing instability due to environmental, geopolitical, and socioeconomic inequalities, a call to action to secure a stronger and more stable future for the United States is clear. In this complex quandary, we must be united by a common cause, leveraging our differences to innovate and creatively design a better tomorrow.

CSIS’s purpose is to define the future of national security. We believe that investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives ultimately strengthens our national security interests at home and abroad. The United States stands apart from its peers in its rich diversity and the ability to utilize this strength to its benefit. When we fail to recognize diversity as an asset to drive innovation and productivity, we fail over 300 million Americans and impede the world of further development, strengthened diplomatic relationships, and credible intelligence and security. Diversity in the workplace—at every level—is a source of strength, as every corporation has learned. 

As a bipartisan institution dedicated to solving the world’s greatest challenges, we believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce is an enabler to deliver our goals. We are committed to recruiting, training, and advancing talent who will serve as future leaders of foreign policy. We are committed to building a diverse pipeline, to carry forward equitable and inclusive practices inside and outside of CSIS.

The federal government’s efforts to cultivate resilience to withstand future threats to national security starts with a resilient workforce. At CSIS, the Diversity and Leadership in International Affairs Project is crucial to our organizational commitment to DEI. Embedding DEI into our strategic priorities and organizational plans ensures that our workforce is high performing, impressively agile, and exceptionally motivated to deliver on our vision.

—John J. Hamre
President and CEO

Staff Demographics

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As part of our efforts to build a more diverse and inclusive organization, we informally track several other dimensions of diversity, including LGBTQ+, veterans, and people with visible and invisible disabilities. Our staff come from all regions of the country and world and have graduated from over 140 public and private colleges and universities. CSIS has gender and race pay parity.

Interns Demographics

Interns are an important part of the CSIS community and contribute meaningfully to our work. Our internship program is also a pipeline for our junior staff positions.

*Based on voluntary self-identification of the EEO1 Form. The federal government requires CSIS to determine this information by visual survey if staffers do not choose to self-identify.