‘Diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) initiatives have become widespread in the U.S. government, including the intelligence community (IC). Senior IC leaders claim that DEI policies improve the operational performance of agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency. This article criticizes these claims, shows them to be unsupported by evidence and simply skimpy, and goes further by briefly explaining how DEI policies damage the performance of U.S. intelligence agencies in five major ways. This study of the impact of DEI on a major component of U.S. national security establishment complements studies of the effects of DEI on businesses and universities.