The New York Times reported on Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris critiqued intelligence reports for how they described female leaders of other countries.
“Ms. Harris, the first woman to hold her office, ordered up a review that scrutinized multiple years of briefing reports from various intelligence agencies, looking for possible gender bias,” the authors wrote in the Times.
Harris’ attention to the briefing reports stemmed from her being “struck by the way two foreign leaders were described.”
After officials scrutinized the reports, they found “some questionable word choices but no widespread pattern,” the Times reported, citing a senior intelligence official who requested anonymity to discuss the review.
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Intelligence officials were prompted to add “a new training class for analysts on how to judge and assess female foreign leaders,” the Times wrote.
More specifically, the Times reported that the “class now teaches intelligence analysts how to better assess the context in which women leaders operate and the possible impact of gender on their career paths, decision-making and policy choices, according to a U.S. official.”
“The episode proved to be a preview of Ms. Harris’s priorities. The vice president put questions about gender and race at the center of many of the policy discussions in her office, aides and former administration officials said,” the Times reported.
Harris reportedly caught the attention of Avril Haines, the first female director of national intelligence in the US, when the Democratic presidential nominee shared concern about possible gender bias in briefing reports in the intelligence community.
Intelligence officials are now regularly checking for potential gender bias, a senior official told the Times. Furthermore, intelligence officials shared with the Times that Harris wanted more intelligence reporting on how gender inequalities in various nations weaken their national security.
“She paid particular attention to Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean — regions that have been overlooked in mainstream foreign-policy making, one of them said,” intelligence officials told the Times.
The Harris campaign nor Biden administration officials responded to a request for comment.
The information shared by intelligence officials was part of the Times’ report on Harris being silent on her policy record as she “appeals to moderate voters and tries to defy Donald J. Trump’s claims that she represents ‘the radical left.'”
The Times explained further that Harris’ past record in combating gender bias in intelligence agencies, promoting “equity” in the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and other measures “aimed at systemic disparities” have not been touted on the campaign trail.
“While Ms. Harris’s allies describe this as a defining feature of her vice presidency — one that separates her from her predecessors, including Democrats — she is not running on this part of her record,” the Times reported.
“She rarely talks explicitly about how she would use government to address racism and sexism — and only sparingly mentions her own status as potentially the first woman, first Asian American and first Black woman to hold the presidency.”
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A former aide to the vice president told the Times that Harris “was always interested in gender.”
“We all knew it was really important to her, so we would proactively add that to her briefings. She didn’t have to ask for it,” said the aide, who requested anonymity.
While her record may suggest that Harris is focused on women and minorities, her aides maintain that the vice president is concerned about any “overlooked group, including low-income Americans of any race or ethnicity.”
Many of Harris’ past positions have been put in the spotlight since she ascended to the top of the ticket after President Biden withdrew from the presidential race.
For example, Harris supported taxpayer-funded surgery for trans prisoners and illegal immigrants when responding to a questionnaire conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union.
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