According to the outlet, the agency is undergoing "its own #MeToo moment," referring to a public campaign against sexual harassment in the entertainment industry that erupted in 2017 leading to the conviction and incarceration of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
"We are not where we need to be, and I don't need a survey to tell me that," CIA Chief Operating Officer Maura Burns, not related to Director William Burns, told CNN.
Only a quarter of the agency's employees participated in the voluntary survey. Of those that did, 28% said they'd experienced "at least one instance of a sexually hostile work environment" during their time at the CIA, while 9% encountered at least one such instance in just the past year.
CNN has noted that this is "just slightly higher than the national average" and lower than the US military's figures. The outlet pointed to two major cases suggesting a "deep-rooted cultural problem" at the Langley, Virginia-based agency.
One officer, stationed in Europe until recently, is alleged to have knowingly infected at least five women with a sexually transmitted disease. He is still employed at the agency, working at headquarters pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Comment: This is the tame tip of the dirty iceberg.