FBI Candidates Who Engaged in Bestiality ‘Before the Age of 18’ No Longer Barred From Hiring Pool as Agency Allegedly Lowers Standards

The FBI is reportedly hoping to widen its candidate pool by dropping several long-held qualification restrictions. Per CBS News, the agency is now open to adding candidates who admit to having stolen from their employer, hired sex workers, and had sex with animals to its ranks, depending on circumstances.

The FBI was said to have “quietly lowered” its standards when it came to conducting background checks on prospects beginning in June, via an internal memo to agency personnel. While it will no longer automatically disqualify candidates who engaged in deviant acts, an FBI spokesperson claimed that such acts are still limited to “a narrow set of circumstances” to be permissible.

Reportedly, the FBI is willing to consider candidates who have engaged in prostitution, so long as they have not solicited sex workers three or more times and have not engaged in the act within the last 10 years. However, a spokesperson noted this rule may be given an exception if a person “may have hired a sex worker in a location where prostitution is legal.”

FBI will take into consideration a candidate’s past circumstances

The FBI will continue to automatically disqualify potential employees from its candidate roster should they engage in prostitution as a person in a “position of trust,” sources told the outlet. The agency deemed those in a position of trust to be people who work in education, health, finance, law, public safety, and social work.

According to reports, the FBI will also be open to applicants who have had sex with animals or engaged in animal cruelty in the past. However, the caveat is that the incident must have occurred “before the age of 18” for the act to be permissible, and the applicant must undergo polygraph testing.

An FBI spokesperson shared the agency’s reasoning for such a standard, claiming that there are cases where an individual was coerced into sexual activity with animals when they were young, which the agency has to take into account. Still, sources claimed that the FBI’s new standards made no distinction between candidates who were sexually abused and those who participated in the act voluntarily.

Reportedly, the FBI will also consider candidates who have stolen money from their employer. Similar to the agency’s new prostitution standards, the agency will only overlook the act as long as the incident happened three or more years ago, the reports said.

While the loosening of the FBI’s hiring requirements enables the agency to broaden its talent pool, experts believe this decision highlights its decreasing workforce due to mounting pressure under Trump’s administration. “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,” Mark Zaid, a lawyer who represents FBI agents, said.

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