CBS News reports that the changes are a result of a decline in employment following firings and resignations during Donald Trump’s second presidential term
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NEED TO KNOW
- CBS News reports that the FBI has relaxed hiring standards in several areas, including for some applicants with past involvement in prostitution, theft, bestiality or animal cruelty
- Under the reported changes, certain conduct may no longer be automatically disqualifying if it occurred outside specified timeframes or under limited circumstances
- The FBI said it still maintains “some of the highest suitability standards” in government in a statement to the outlet
The FBI has lowered its hiring standards in several areas, including applicants who admit to having hired sex workers, stolen from an employer or engaged in acts of bestiality, per a new CBS News report.
According to inside sources, the FBI communicated the new, lowered hiring standards via an internal electronic memo to hiring personnel on June 16, per the outlet.
Per the report, the FBI is now willing to consider candidates who have solicited sex workers, provided that solicitation did not occur three or more times and did not take place within 10 years of the application date.
The candidates must also not have held a position of “trust” — such as that of a police officer or a teacher — at the time of the incidents, according to inside sources cited by the outlet.
The FBI will also now consider candidates who stole money from an employer, provided the incident was more than three years ago.
The bureau will additionally consider applicants who have engaged in bestiality or animal cruelty as long as the incidents occurred before the applicant was 18 years old, the sources said, according to CBS News.
An archived frequently asked questions page published online by the FBI in 2023 specifically states that “engagement in prostitution or bestiality” was considered “an automatic disqualifier” for candidacy at the time.
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However, a more recent document on employment eligibility does not mention either activity as a disqualifier for hiring.
CBS News reports that the changes come on the heels of a major decline in employment at the bureau following firings, resignations and retirements during Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
While speaking to the outlet, James Davidson, a former FBI agent who now leads the nonprofit FBI Integrity Project, said he believes the changes are directly related to a declining applicant pool.
“If they are lowering standards, it means the pool of candidates has sufficiently shrunk,” he said.
“Bestiality is clearly a potential indication of a more serious emotional issue, and even in a circumstance where it is not, the pool of candidates should be extensive enough that the criteria should certainly not be eliminated,” he added.
Mark Zaid, an attorney who represents FBI agents and is familiar with the bureau, agreed, telling the outlet: “How can this not be reflective of a recruiting problem at the FBI if you are lowering your standards on issues like bestiality and prostitution?”
A retired FBI agent who specialized in polygraphs said that certain past incidents — such as soliciting a sex worker — were traditionally disqualifiers for employment because they could make an agent more vulnerable to blackmail.
“You can be lured in and trapped, and it can be held over your head,” the former agent told CBS News.
In a statement to the outlet, an FBI spokesperson stated that the bureau does not hire people who have a history of criminal sexual acts, adding that it “has and always will maintain some of the highest suitability standards for its applicants and employees in the U.S. government.”
The spokesperson went on to say that any new standards are designed to account for circumstances that may be outside of an applicant’s control, thus placing them at an unfair disadvantage.
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“Over the years, the FBI has had a number of applicants who suffered sexual abuse in their past, causing polygraph questions about prostitution, bestiality or other similar issues to affect their polygraph through zero fault of their own,” the spokesperson said.
However, CBS News reports that former FBI officials with inside knowledge of the bureau’s hiring processes claim that such candidates would not be placed at a disadvantage and would have the opportunity to fully explain any past abuse during the interview and polygraph process.
The FBI did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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