Bulgaria News
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
The FBI has reportedly relaxed hiring standards that previously automatically disqualified applicants who admitted to hiring prostitutes, engaging in bestiality, or stealing from an employer.
The changes were communicated to FBI personnel involved in vetting applicants through an internal memo on June 16, CBS News journalists Sarah N. Lynch and Daniel Klaidman reported Friday, citing multiple sources familiar with the new guidelines.
Under the revised standards, applicants who have paid for sex may still be considered if they did so fewer than three times and the conduct occurred at least 10 years ago, according to the report. An exception remains for applicants who solicited sex while holding a position of “trust,” which the new policy defines as work in public safety, education, health, social work, finance, or law. Those applicants would still be automatically disqualified.
Applicants who stole from an employer can similarly avoid automatic disqualification if the theft occurred more than three years earlier.
The bureau also changed how it treats past bestiality or animal cruelty, allowing applicants to remain eligible if the conduct occurred before they turned 18. Sources told CBS News the policy does not differentiate between applicants who willingly engaged in bestiality and those who were coerced.
An FBI spokesperson defended the changes as providing flexibility for unusual cases, including applicants who experienced sexual abuse involving animals as children.
“Any polygraph changes reflect a clear difference between a disqualified applicant who has engaged in criminal behavior, versus an applicant who may be subject to further evaluation based on rare exigent circumstances,” the spokesperson told CBS.
The changes mark a departure from previous publicly available FBI guidance. An archived 2023 document listed “engagement in prostitution or bestiality” among the bureau’s “automatic disqualifiers,” according to the outlet. Current eligibility guidance does not include those activities on the list.
The shift comes as the FBI has experienced significant personnel losses. In April reporting highlighted by CBS, former FBI analyst Philip Fields found that 1,139 special agents left the bureau in 2025. The agency currently employs roughly 13,700 agents.
FBI Director Kash Patel has publicly argued that some longstanding hiring requirements unnecessarily eliminate potential recruits.
“We are losing too many qualified candidates to the rigors of the requirements from yesteryear,” Patel said in a July interview with former agent John Nantz cited by the outlet.
“We’ve never had recruiting numbers and application numbers this high in the history of the bureau. We’re not reducing our standards — we’re actually making it harder. You’ve got to be fit to be an FBI agent,” he added at the time.
The post FBI Reportedly Loosens Hiring Rules So ‘Prostitution and Bestiality’ Are No Longer ‘Automatic Disqualifiers’ first appeared on Mediaite.
FBI Reportedly Loosens Hiring Rules So ‘Prostitution and Bestiality’ Are No Longer ‘Automatic Disqualifiers’ 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-08-28 23:45:43 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
БЪЛГАРИЯ НОВИНИТЕ – ИНФОРМАЦИОННА АГЕНЦИЯ 2009-2026 2026-08-28 23:45:43