National Defense

Intel Community Newsletter Author Says Cross-Dressing Made Him A ‘Better Intelligence Officer’: REPORT

(Flickr/Ted Eytan)

An unidentified intelligence officer claimed that cross-dressing helped him perform his job better in an internal Director of National Intelligence (DNI) newsletter, according to The Daily Wire.

The anonymous author of an article titled, “My Gender Identity and Expression Make Me a Better Intelligence Officer,” claimed that crossdressing “sharpened the skills” he used, according to The Daily Wire. The author claimed that his experiences as a cross-dresser also cultivated “strategic empathy” in the article.

“I am an intelligence officer, and I am a man who likes to wear women’s clothes sometimes,” the anonymous author wrote. “I think my experiences as someone who cross-dresses have sharpened the skills I use as an intelligence officer, particularly critical thinking and perspective-taking. This has been useful in understanding foreign actor motivations and HUMINT asset motivations. I think it also has made me a better colleague.”

“My experiences dressing in feminine clothing have helped me recognize and overcome my own identity-based biases and mindsets,” the anonymous intelligence officer wrote. “Crossdressing helped me understand that other people-including those we study in the IC-experience the world differently.”

The quarterly newsletter, which is sent out to personnel all across the intelligence community, is released by the DNI’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Office, according to The Daily Wire. One intelligence agency supervised by the DNI’s office put out an internal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) glossary that covered pronouns and the term white fragility, The Daily Wire reported.

The anonymous author claimed to have a greater appreciation for his female colleagues, even though he acknowledged that cross-dressing “still distracts people” in the office.

“I know firsthand how wearing heels can make your feet hurt and make it take longer to walk somewhere,” the author wrote. “Although I like wearing a bra, I know it isn’t comfortable for everyone, and is less comfortable after a few hours. On top of the biases that women often face at work, it must be hard to be uncomfortable, too.”

“Every I[ntlligence] C[community] resource I found on dress codes suggests that dressing professionally, in any clothing, is the goal, so your clothes do not distract from what you’re trying to do,” the author wrote. “When I cross-dress, it still distracts people, even though it is professional. It is my hope that we can learn to accept a wider range of gender identities and expressions. Let’s choose, in the spirit and letter of ICD 125, to not to be distracted by what other people wear, to accept them, and get on with our vital work.”

The Pentagon and State Department have spent over $340 million on DEI initiatives during the Biden administration, The Daily Wire reported.

The directive referenced by the author, Intelligence Community Directive 125, was issued by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on May 13, 2023.

The DNI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.