FBI’s Kash Patel defends hiring policy change on bestiality, prostitution

Policy change sparks heated Senate debate; critics question its timing amid challenges in attracting new FBI agents.Published On 15 Sep 202615 Sep 2026United States FBI Director Kash Patel has defended the bureau’s loosening of hiring requirements regarding prostitution and bestiality, saying the changes were meant to enable victims of those acts to apply for employment without fear of automatic disqualification.The FBI quietly issued guidance this past spring lifting a categorical hiring ban on applicants who had previously engaged in prostitution, and said that it would instead consider the context of the behaviour in at least some cases. The bureau made a similar change regarding bestiality.Pressed about the moves at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Patel on Tuesday denied that the changes reflected a lowering of employment standards and insisted they were designed to protect victims forced to engage in that conduct and to prevent automatic disqualification.“We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked. We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you,” Patel said.The answer did little to satisfy ...