Daniel Wolfram
These new standards at the FBI have experts questioning what types of new recruits might hold positions at the highest levels.
No one wants to work at Kash Patel’s FBI during the Trump administration.
So now, the FBI is trying to relax its moral standards for new recruits.
That includes being laissez-faire on things that are illegal in most places in America.
The FBI is now hiring
In June, new internal guidance revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation relaxed several longstanding hiring disqualifiers, according to reporting by CBS News.
Past acts like soliciting sex workers or stealing from an employer no longer trigger an automatic rejection. Candidates who hired sex workers may still qualify if the incidents occurred over ten years ago and happened fewer than three times. Theft is allowed if it happened over three years ago.
The updated rules also address past acts of bestiality or animal cruelty. Applicants who engaged in such behavior before turning 18 are no longer automatically banned from working for the FBI.
An FBI spokesperson stated that the agency will rely on new polygraph updates instead of the old policy. “Any polygraph changes reflect a clear difference between a disqualified applicant who has engaged in criminal behavior, versus an applicant who may be subject to further evaluation based on rare exigent circumstances,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Apparently, FBI Director Kash Patel does not demonstrate the same adherence to the polygraph. The news outlet ProPublica reported that a number of Patel’s hires he brought with him following his confirmation as Director did not pass the updated polygraph test and had to get a special exemption to get to work at Quantico. That includes Patel’s personal assistant and former Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
Concerns over integrity
The changes to policy follow a large wave of departures, with over 1,000 special agents leaving the bureau in 2025. Critics worry that lowering standards creates serious security vulnerabilities, including blackmail risks.
Legal experts and former agents expressed sharp concern over the move. Attorney Mark Zaid questioned the recruitment strategy. “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?” Zaid asked CBS News rhetorically.
Former FBI agent James Davidson echoed those concerns. “Bestiality is clearly a potential indication of a more serious emotional issue,” Davidson said.
A desperate push for recruits
Former polygraph examiners also warn that past illegal acts leave agents vulnerable to extortion. A Department of Justice memo from 2015 actively prohibits prostitution for current staff, warning that soliciting sex invites leaks of sensitive material. That memo continues to remain valid, according to the DOJ.
Kash Patel defended the adjustments as necessary to modernize recruiting. “We are losing too many qualified candidates to the rigors of the requirements from yesteryear,” Patel said in a recent interview.
This is not the first time that Patel has lowered the recruiting standards. New recruits only have to do eight weeks of training as opposed to the usual 18 weeks. Patel alleges that all these new initiatives are not because of a shortage of agents. Instead, it is because there are too many applicants.
“We’ve never had recruiting numbers and application numbers this high in the history of the bureau. We’re not reducing our standards — we’re actually making it harder. You’ve got to be fit to be an FBI agent.”
