Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose department is more than 70 percent white, reportedly told several employees that he does not "care about diversity," and instead is focused on "having the right person for the right job," three high-ranking officials within the department told CNN.
Zinke's comments about diversity include: "diversity isn't important," or "I don't care about diversity," or "I don't really think that's important anymore," and are followed up with something along the lines of, "what's important is having the right person for the right job," or "I care about excellence, and I'm going to get the best people, and you'll find we have the most diverse group anyone's ever had," the sources said.
Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said the anonymous claims made against the secretary were "untrue."
"As a woman who has worked for him for a number of years in senior positions, I say without a doubt this claim is untrue, and I am hopeful that they are a result of a misunderstanding and not a deliberate mistruth," she added.
Of the 68,000 staffers at the Department of Interior, more than 70 percent are white. The CNN report comes nearly eight months after the department reassigned 33 senior executive staffers, about half of whom were minorities.
"If you look at the actions he's taken, they are unbalanced in regards to minorities and women," one manager who is a minority told CNN. "If you look at the people who were moved and you look at their race or gender, it's very obvious that this is a person that does not embrace the concept of diversity."
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