The Biden-Harris State Department’s top DEI officials pull in nearly $200,000 annually in taxpayer-funded salaries, according to financial disclosures, putting them among the highest-paid American diplomats.
Constance Mayer, who served as the acting chief Diversity and Inclusion officer until April of this year, raked in $194,510 annually, according to financial disclosures published by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The State Department’s Special Representative for Racial Justice and Equity, Desiree Cormier Smith, makes $191,900 each year, the disclosures show.
The officials draw far more than the average State Department employee, who makes around $100,000 or less, depending on post and tenure. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the country’s top diplomat, only makes slightly more, pulling in around $221,000 annually, though he is reportedly sitting on a "$10 million fortune" driven by his past work as a corporate consultant.
The financial disclosures provide a window into the Biden-Harris administration’s push to emphasize what critics label "woke" priorities in the federal government. The State Department is leading these efforts internationally, reportedly pumping more than $80 million into a litany of programs meant to advance "racial equity" and prevent "gender and sexuality discrimination" abroad. Blinken formed the department's Office of Diversity and Inclusion in February 2021, shortly after a White House order instructed the entire federal government to ramp up DEI initiatives.
He also created the racial equity envoy position, which maintains a staff and office. Cormier Smith was appointed to the role in 2022 after working as a senior policy advisor for liberal billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. Financial disclosures indicate her spouse pulls in more than $230,000 annually at Freddie Mac, the federal mortgage company.
Mayer, meanwhile, served as the State Department’s top DEI official until April and helped establish the new equity office. She was replaced by Zakiya Carr Johnson, who entered the job as "a social inclusion, diversity, and equity expert and strategist with over 20 years of experience." OPM does not yet list Johnson’s salary information publicly, but a source familiar with the department's pay structure estimated that she earns "close to $200k" per year.
Before taking the job, Johnson decried traditional American systems, saying in an online discussion that they are "deeply rooted in patriarchy, in colonialism, in atheism." A "culture of misogyny," she said, "has allowed men to act without consequence."
The State Department’s internal diversity push, primarily crafted by its DEI office, has drawn scrutiny for requiring that employees "pass a loyalty test in diversity, equity, and inclusion" if they are to be "considered for promotions and higher pay," Fox News reported in May. American diplomats must now "demonstrate through documentation that they are actively involved in DEI practices."
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the State Department’s inaugural DEI officer who served in the job until June 2023, confirmed the new practices during a speech last year.
"We made the change that if you wanted to be considered for promotion at the Department of State, you must be able to document what you are doing to support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and accessibility," Abercrombie-Winstanley said. "This is how you are judged for promotion."
Blinken has also taken a lead role in pushing DEI policies, telling staffers in an internal memo earlier this year that they should be wary about "misgendering" their colleagues and avoid using terms like "mother/father," "son/daughter," and "husband/wife." The goal, Blinken said, is to "increase understanding of gender identity and provide guidance on gender identity language and best practices that support an inclusive work environment."
The memo also urged employees to include their pronouns in official communications, a policy that backfired last year when the State Department’s internal email system assigned staffers random, and often incorrect, pronouns.
The "pronoun glitch," as the State Department described it in emails viewed by the Washington Free Beacon, "unfortunately" assigned many employees the incorrect gender pronouns. The State Department subsequently offered free therapy to any employee who felt "hurt or upset" over the situation.
Conservative critics say the State Department’s DEI push has negatively impacted recruitment, efficiency, and morale. The Heritage Foundation concluded in a May report that the diversity requirements "undermine U.S. diplomacy and betray American values," chiefly by placing an emphasis on race and ideology over foreign policy expertise.
"Ideologically driven bureaucrats at the State Department are severely undermining U.S. diplomacy by artificially engineering equal outcomes in hiring and personnel decisions, through overriding objective criteria," according to former foreign service officer Simon Hankinson, the report’s author. "The world is on fire right now—as seen by the conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Yet, the State Department is wasting limited resources on an agenda that does not advance American interests and is not supported by data."
Externally, the State Department’s diversity push has brought a host of "woke" programs to countries across the globe. This has included taxpayer-funded drag shows in Ecuador, a host of "LGBT" initiatives, and as well as "diversity and inclusion" exchange programs.
The State Department has also poured taxpayer funds into an "LGBT activist group supporting prostitution in Colombia," as well as "a film festival featuring incest and pedophilia in Portugal," according to a Senate investigation.