EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). The FBI has reportedly revised its applicant suitability standards so that certain past conduct—including hiring prostitutes, stealing from an employer, and some acts involving animals committed before age 18—may no longer result in automatic disqualification. The bureau says this does not mean it is excusing criminal sexual conduct and insists it continues to maintain high hiring standards.
Still, for an agency entrusted with investigating corruption, theft, exploitation and serious crime, the optics are devastating. Americans have long been told that FBI agents must meet an exceptionally high standard of character and judgment. When conduct once considered disqualifying becomes something the passage of time can explain away, the public is entitled to ask a simple question: Is the FBI broadening its applicant pool—or lowering the bar?
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FBI lowers hiring bar: Getting services from prostitutes, stealing from employer, bestiality not automatic deal-breakers
The FBI used to reject anyone if they admitted that they had hired sex workers in the past, stolen from an employer, or engaged in acts of bestiality. But now, these factors are not immediate deal-breakers, CBS reported. The FBI is willing to give candidates a pass on prostitution, as long as they have not hired sex workers three or more times. And the hiring of the sex workers must not have taken place within the last 10 years, the report said.This leeway has been allowed because a person may have hired a sex worker in a location where prostitution is legal. But a person who was in a position of “trust” who solicited sex would still be automatically disqualified from FBI employment. Examples of positions of trust are those who work in the fields of public safety, education, health, social work, finance or law. Being a member of the military was not among the listed categories, and it was not clear if they would be treated as such.
Stole from employer? It’s fine if it’s more than three years ago
Under the new eligibility rules, a person who stole from an employer is not automatically disqualified as long as the incident occurred more than three years ago.The new standards also specifically address applicants who have engaged in past acts of bestiality or animal cruelty – saying they may still be considered for the bureau as long as the incidents took place before the age of 18.
