FBI director insists new hiring standards on prostitution and bestiality were only meant to assist sexual assault victims

FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday defended his agency’s decision to lower its hiring standards, after he faced a barrage of questions from incredulous lawmakers who demanded to know why engaging in acts of bestiality is no longer an automatic disqualifier for employment.

In a series of extraordinary exchanges with both Democrat and Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patel insisted that several changes were made to ensure that victims of sexual assault or trafficking involving animals were not precluded from employment at the FBI.

“We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked,” Patel told Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin during an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

 “We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you if you are a victim of these awful, heinous acts. They still have to go through the same rigorous standards and application process,” Patel added.

Tuesday’s hearing marked the first time that Patel has publicly addressed the new hiring standards related to prostitution, employment theft and bestiality, after CBS News first reported about them in August.

Previously, anyone who engaged in such conduct was automatically precluded from working at the bureau.

Now, a person can still be considered eligible in certain circumstances.

For prostitution, job candidates can still be hired as long as they have not hired sex workers or engaged in acts of prostitution three or more times and the conduct took place more than 10 years ago. 

For employment theft, a person can be considered if the theft took place more than three years ago, and for bestiality, a job candidate can still be eligible as long as the acts occurred before the age of 18, multiple sources familiar with the changes previously told CBS News.

Sources previously told CBS News that the new eligibility requirements do not distinguish between candidates who were coerced into sexual activity with animals, as opposed to those who engaged in such acts willingly.

On the eve of the hearing, Democrats from the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Patel demanding a “full accounting” for why such changes were made and asked the bureau to provide “the number of applicants hired, extended conditional offers, or placed under case-by-case review since June 16, 2026, whose files would previously have been automatically disqualified, broken out by category of conduct.”

Lawmakers on Tuesday from both sides of the aisle repeatedly grilled Patel over the decision, with most of them primarily focusing their questions on the changes related to acts of bestiality. 

“Tell me what it said before,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, asked, referring to the automatic disqualification for acts of bestiality.

“It automatically disqualified any individual who participated on either side of it. Obviously, we are never going to hire the criminal side,” Patel said.

“Either side of what, the bestiality?” Kennedy asked.

“Yes,” Patel responded.

“So you disqualified the animal?” Kennedy responded. 

“Well, we have great canines,” Patel said.

“I’m trying to understand why you did this,” Kennedy continued.  “Why would you even get into bestiality?”

Patel told lawmakers that some FBI applicants were trafficked and forced to engage in “degrading acts” such as those involving animals, and the changes were meant to assist people in that category. 

“Some of these individuals would go on to be law enforcement officers, who qualified to be law enforcement officers and later applied to the FBI,” Patel said.

Patel also told Kennedy that the changes related to prostitution were meant to ensure that victims who were forced into the act were not precluded from employment. 

“It’s not if you frequented a prostitute. It’s if you were a prostitute?”  Kennedy asked.

“If you were, yes, the victim forced into it,” Patel responded. 

The internal changes to the automatic disqualification, however, relate to both the solicitation and engagement of prostitution, sources previously told CBS News, and an FBI spokesperson also previously acknowledged that the changes might also apply to an applicant who admits to hiring a sex worker in a place where it is lawful.

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

Several also said they were baffled by how the bureau was justifying the changes, noting that all applicants have an opportunity to disclose personal issues that could impact the results of their polygraph prior to taking the test, such as a history of sexual abuse.

Patel did not explain during the hearing why the bureau has lowered the standards for candidates who may have stolen in the past from their employers.