FBI Hiring Standards Change Draws Senate Scrutiny Over Bestiality Disqualification Policy

FBI Director Kash Patel told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that changes to the bureau’s hiring standards are intended, in part, to protect applicants who were victims of bestiality or animal abuse.

Before the current administration, FBI policy barred applicants who had employed sex workers, stolen from their employers or engaged in bestiality. In August, CBS News reported that those standards had been relaxed in some cases to encourage hiring.

According to a letter from Senate Democrats to Patel, the revised standards may have been enacted as early as February 2025. The new rules allow the FBI to consider applicants who, for example, stole from an employer more than three years ago or were paid for sex fewer than three times 10 years ago. Such conduct had traditionally been disqualifying because of concerns about intimidation, unless the applicant was in a position of “public trust.”

FBI policy change involving bestiality

One change has drawn particular attention. The Senate Democrats’ letter says that a “history of bestiality or animal abuse” will not automatically disqualify an applicant if the conduct occurred before the applicant turned 18.

“We have removed the automatic disqualification of applicants who commit acts of bestiality,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said during Tuesday’s oversight hearing. “I am not a victim of bestiality, but an engaged applicant. Do you agree with that?”

Patel responded, “An applicant who engaged in bestiality means that he or she was forced to become a victim of bestiality.” He added that the FBI had no intention of criminalizing victims or preventing them from serving time in prison.

In a further exchange, Patel told Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., that the previous regulations prohibited people “on either side” from engaging in bestiality.

“Which side is bestiality?” Kennedy asked. “So you disqualified the animal?”

“We have some great canines and we’re not going to disqualify them,” Patel replied.

President Kennedy said the change to the standard was “a huge blow to the FBI.”

“Why do you engage in bestiality?” he asked.

“We’re not interested in bestiality,” Patel said.

FBI says criminal conduct remains disqualifying

In response to a request for clarification from WIRED, the FBI said that some applicants had previously been disqualified because they were victims of human-trafficking-related bestiality.

“The FBI has and will continue to uphold the highest standards of suitability for U.S. government applicants and employees,” the FBI’s National Press Office said. “The changes you mention now allow the FBI to consider an applicant and take into account the whole person in certain circumstances.”

The agency said the revised policy could allow it to consider applicants who had been sexually abused and whose experiences raised questions involving prostitution, bestiality or similar issues, even when the conduct was not their fault.

“Previously, those applicants were excluded from consideration, but now they can be considered,” the FBI said. “It is wrong to suggest that such criminal conduct is no longer disqualifying at the FBI. If you have engaged in criminal sexual conduct such as those mentioned, you are certainly not eligible for employment, and to suggest otherwise is absurd.”

Senate Democrats cite FBI departures

Under President Donald Trump, the FBI lost a large number of experienced employees. The Senate Democrats’ letter said Patel’s “purge” had led to the resignation of more than 5,000 nonpartisan career employees, all six former executive assistant directors, at least 18 assigned special agents and more than 1,000 special agents since the beginning of Trump’s second term.