Durbin asks DOJ watchdog to investigate new FBI hiring standards on bestiality, prostitution and job theft

Washington — The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday asked the Justice Department’s internal watchdog to investigate why the FBI lowered its hiring standards for applicants who may have engaged in bestiality, prostitution or job theft.

In a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Don Berthiaume, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said lowering the FBI’s hiring standards “threatens to undermine the work of the FBI and poses a serious risk to the integrity of the Bureau.”

CBS News first reported in August, the FBI quietly lowered its hiring standards in June, marking a sharp change from its previous practices.

Previously, anyone who engaged in acts of bestiality, prostituted themselves, or stole from an employer was automatically banned from working in the office.

Now, under the new standards, a person who engaged in acts of bestiality, animal cruelty, or animal “crush” before the age of 18 can still be considered for employment with the FBI.

When it comes to prostitution, job applicants will not be automatically disqualified until they have hired sex workers three or more times and as long as the act occurred more than 10 years ago.

The new guidelines also allow the FBI to consider hiring applicants who have stolen from their employers, as long as the theft occurred more than three years ago.

At a special hearing last month, FBI Director Kash Patel seemed to be having trouble to defend changes to the new policy, telling lawmakers it was intended to ensure that sexual assault victims who were forced to have sex with animals would not be barred from employment in the office.

His exchange with Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana has since become the subject of comedy shows and countless Internet memes. Patel told lawmakers that the bestiality pre-hire policy “automatically disqualified anyone who participated on one side or the other.”

“On either side of what, bestiality?” Kennedy said, later asking, “So you disqualified the animal?”

Current and former FBI agents and legal experts familiar with the bureau’s recruiting practices previously told CBS News they were deeply troubled by the changes, saying they were indicative of challenges the FBI could face recruiting new talent.

Several also said they were confused by how the office justified the change, noting that all applicants have the opportunity to disclose personal issues that could impact their polygraph test results before taking the test, such as a history of sexual abuse.

“Director Patel’s responses have failed to clarify the purpose or effects of these changes,” Durbin wrote in his letter to the inspector general.

“Changes of this magnitude without discernible justification must be examined. I request that your office investigate the circumstances surrounding the development and implementation of these policy changes,” he added.