Texas Senator Ted Cruz slammed the CIA’s latest woke recruitment ad, which includes lines like “I am a woman of color,” “I am a cisgender millennial,” and “I am intersectional,” saying “We’ve come a long way from Jason Bourne.”
“If you’re a Chinese communist, or an Iranian Mullah, or Kim Jong Un…would this scare you?” Cruz tweeted, sharing the CIA’s recruitment ad. “We’ve come a long way from Jason Bourne.”
If you’re a Chinese communist, or an Iranian Mullah, or Kim Jong Un…would this scare you?
We’ve come a long way from Jason Bourne. https://t.co/HW8Eh9UdXa
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 4, 2021
The CIA released the video on Wednesday, encouraging Americans to “command your space” and “be unapologetically you,” according to The Daily Wire.
“When I was 17 I quoted Zora Neale Hurston’s ‘How It Feels to Be Colored Me’ in my college application essay. The line that spoke to me stated simply, ‘I am not tragically colored. There is no sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all,’” an unnamed CIA official recalls in the video. “At 17, I had no idea what life would bring but Zora’s sentiment articulated so beautifully how I felt as a daughter of immigrants how I felt then and now. Nothing about me was or is tragic. I am perfectly made.”
“I am a woman of color. I am a mom. I am a cis-gendered Millennial who has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder,” the CIA official added. “I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise. I am a walking declaration, a woman whose inflection does not rise at the end of her sentences, suggesting that a question has been asked.”
“I used to struggle with imposter syndrome, but at 36, I refuse to internalize misguided, patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be. I am tired of feeling like I’m supposed to apologize for the space I occupy rather than intoxicate people with my effort, my brilliance,” she continued. “I am proud of me, full stop. My parents left everything they knew and loved to expose me to opportunities they never had. Because of them, I stand here today a proud first generation Latina and officer at CIA.”
“I am unapologetically you and I want you to be unapologetically you, whoever you are,” the video concluded.
The CIA shared the video on their Twitter account, alongside the hashtag, #WednesdayWisdom.
"I am unapologetically me. I want you to be unapologetically you, whoever you are. Whether you work at #CIA, or anywhere else in the world.
Command your space. Mija, you are worth it."
— CIA (@CIA) April 28, 2021
A former CIA officer criticized the video, saying that “America is less safe with this new CIA, and dangerously more political.”
“The CIA used to be about mission to country. (I speak from experience),” tweeted Bryan Dean Wright. “Now it’s now about demanding — and getting — accommodation to fix an emotional wound or advance a personal agenda.”
The CIA used to be about mission to country. (I speak from experience)
Now it’s now about demanding — and getting — accommodation to fix an emotional wound or advance a personal agenda.
America is less safe with this new CIA, and dangerously more political. https://t.co/bYiP1vK7rB
— BDW (@BryanDeanWright) May 2, 2021
Meghan McCain also slammed the video as a “joke.”
“This CIA recruitment video is a joke and truly embarrassing for our entire country,” McCain tweeted. “China, Russia and our enemies are laughing at us.”
This CIA recruitment video is a joke and truly embarrassing for our entire country. China, Russia and our enemies are laughing at us.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 3, 2021
“That our universities teach people to talk like this is a national embarrassment,” tweeted author of Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance.
That our universities teach people to talk like this is a national embarrassment. https://t.co/VA43hCoKnp
— JD Vance (@JDVance) May 3, 2021
