FBI Director Kash Patel has made it easier for people who've previously engaged in prostitution or bestiality to join the bureau's ranks - a change that one former agent called "beyond disturbing."
The FBI quietly amended its hiring practices earlier this year and will consider applicants for special agent positions and other bureau roles even if they have paid for sex three times or fewer in the last decade, according to a CBS News report last week.
The rules also do not rule out an applicant if they engaged in bestiality, so long as it happened before they turned 18, according to the report.
Before the change, an FBI applicant who engaged in prostitution or bestiality would have been automatically disqualified, according to Daniel Meyer, a Washington lawyer who specializes in background checks and the security-clearance process.
He told Scripps News that admitting to buying sex during a polygraph was typically a "death knell" for an FBI applicant.
The Independent has asked the FBI for comment.
The FBI told the Associated Press that reports suggesting it was hiring applicants with criminal backgrounds are “false.”
“It is false to suggest criminal behavior like this is no longer disqualifying at the FBI. Any applicant who has engaged in criminal sexual acts like those referenced would of course not be eligible for employment, and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise,” the bureau said in a statement.
The bureau described its vetting and background check process as “wide-ranging and extensive.”
Michael Feinberg, a former FBI agent, criticized the changes particularly with regards to prostitution, considering the FBI is often involved in stings and investigations of sex trafficking of both adults and children.
“I think from the perspective of the FBI as a narrow institution tasked with law enforcement duties, I’m particularly concerned about the waiving of the bar on having frequented prostitutes,” he told MS NOW on Monday.
"Many prostitutes, tragically, are the victims of sex trafficking or in some cases, even worse, child sex trafficking."
He added: "And to now say that somebody we would give a badge, a gun, and the authority of the United States government could have conceivably taken advantage of one of those victims is beyond disturbing.”
It's unclear what specifically prompted Patel to change the rules but retired FBI agent Daniel Brunner told the AP that it may indicate a staffing problem at the law enforcement agency.
“If they’re moving the bar for sexual encounters to include prostitution, what is that saying about the applicant pool? They’re trying to bring in more people, which to me indicates that the applicant pool is extremely shallow right now,” he said.
Phillip Fields, a former FBI analyst at the bureau, noted in a Justice Connection story earlier this year that more than 1,000 agents had left the bureau in 2025.
