The diversity of the FBI’s special agent ranks slipped further in the past three years, according to key statistical measures just released by the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.

African Americans accounted for 4.5% of the special agents at the end of 2014, the FBI disclosed, down from 4.74% in early 2012 and 5.6% in 1997.


Hispanic agents made up 6.81% of the force in December 2014, down from 7.14% in 2012 and 6.9% in 1997.

The numbers were quietly released in a posting on the FBI website after some high-profile attention in recent weeks to the agency’s problems recruiting a more diverse workforce.

FBI Director James Comey delivered a landmark and widely-hailed speech on racial issues earlier this month, acknowledging that unconscious racial biases pervade police work — particularly in low-income communities that draw a lot of police attention.

During a question-and-answer period after his address, Comey said he believes it’s important that law enforcement personnel be diverse. He also acknowledged that the FBI hasn’t done enough to hire and retain racial minorities and women as part of the elite force of special agents.

“It is an imperative for all of us in law enforcement to try to reflect the communities we serve,” said Comey, who took over as FBI director in September 2013. “Big challenge for the FBI — the FBI is overwhelmingly white and male among my agent force. … I have to change the numbers.”

Shortly after Comey’s talk, POLITICO reported that the percentage of African American special agents declined over the past two decades, despite a series of high-profile lawsuits in which blacks, Latinos and women challenged FBI employment practices — especially regarding promotions and assignments.

The story was based on three-year old statistics, because those were the only ones available on the FBI website and the agency did not respond to requests for newer data in the days after Comey’s speech. The new numbers showing continued declines were posted sometime between Sunday morning and midday Monday, according to internet search engines.

”It’s discouraging to think they haven’t greatly improved,” said Temple University law professor David Kairys, who pursued one of the first racial discrimination suits against the bureau. “They clearly had a problem from their origins going back to J. Edgar Hoover who resisted attempts to integrate. I would just hope they’d get beyond that, so this is disappointing.”

The FBI did a bit better in relative terms in recent years with recruiting and retaining women agents and Asians, the new data show.

The number of women special agents held roughly steady, at 2,631 in late 2014, just five agents fewer than in early 2012. However, due to a drop of about 300 in the size of the overall agent force, the proportion of women edged lower, to 19.15% from 19.55%.

Asian agents accounted for 4.33% of the force in 2014, up from 4.18% three years earlier. The number of agents and personnel described as “multi-racial” has ticked up steadily in recent years, but still represents less than 1% of the workforce.

FBI’s non-agent personnel have long been more diverse than the ranks of special agents.

The latest data show that the total percentage of minorities in the FBI’s professional work force rose in the past three years, to 29.09% from 28.91%.

However, the raw number of minority staff actually dipped slightly amid a somewhat larger decline in the total number of personnel.