Speaking to graduates of Florida International University, White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice lamented on Wednesday that there are too many white people in top government positions. The lack of diversity, she added, puts our nation at risk because they all think alike.
Referring to criticism that the U.S. national security workforce is “white, male and Yale,” Ms. Rice told the graduates, “In the halls of power, in the faces of our national security leaders, America is still not fully reflected.”
“By now, we should all know the dangers of ‘groupthink,’ where folks who are alike often think alike,” she said. “By contrast, groups comprised of different people tend to question one another’s assumptions, draw on divergent perspectives and experiences, and yield better outcomes.”
Her comments were reminiscent of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who said in a speech in 2001, before Mr. Obama appointed her to the high court, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Diverse leaders, she said, “can often come up with more creative insights, proffer alternative solutions and thus make better decisions.”
One has to wonder if by making “better decisions” she means lying about the Benghazi attack being the result of a YouTube video? Or how about playing politics with the Rwandan genocide, attacking Israel for its settlement policy, or praising a hardline communist as “brilliant”?
