Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr. mocked a new CIA recruitment ad in which a staffer identified as a millennial with anxiety
- The CIA released a recruitment ad starring a Latina officer identifying as a "cisgender millennial."
- It's part of the "Humans of CIA" series meant to attract a more diverse pool of candidates.
- Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr. mocked the CIA on Monday; Trump said it'd gone "full woke."
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Donald Trump Jr. have derided the CIA for releasing a recruitment ad starring a female staffer who celebrated being a "cisgender millennial" with anxiety.
The video, released on YouTube by the CIA as part of its "Humans of CIA" series on March 25, sees a Latina woman talk candidly about identity and success.
"I am a woman of color. I am a mom. I am a cisgender millennial who has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise," the woman says.
"I did not sneak into CIA," she adds. "I earned my way in, and I earned my way up the ranks."
The ad is part of a video series released by the CIA to attract a more diverse pool of job applicants. The agency has also launched a new website as part of that goal.
The clip went viral on social media earlier this week, prompting conservatives to mock the ad.
"If you're a Chinese communist, or an Iranian Mullah, or Kim Jong Un...would this scare you? We've come a long way from Jason Bourne," Cruz tweeted late Monday, mentioning the protagonist of the "Bourne Identity" spy movies and books.
The CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Trump also tweeted, "China and Russia love this," adding in a second tweet that the two countries were "laughing their asses off watching CIA go full woke. 'Cisgender.' 'Intersectional.'"
"If you think about it, wokeness is the kind of twisted PSYOP a spy agency would invent to destroy a country from the inside out," he added, referring to psychological operations, which seek to influence people's emotions and reasoning.
Larry Pfeiffer, a former CIA chief of staff, tweeted in response: "I would suggest that if you don't like it, you are probably not whom the ad is targeting for employment. Strength from diversity."