Patel defends FBI hiring policy changes before Senate panel

FBI Director Kash Patel defended changes to the bureau’s hiring standards Tuesday after senators from both parties pressed him on why some conduct that once automatically barred applicants — including bestiality, prostitution-related activity and theft from an employer — can now be reviewed case by case.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Patel said the revisions were intended to prevent victims of sexual abuse or trafficking from being rejected without further consideration.

“We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked,” Patel told Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. “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.”

The hearing marked Patel’s first public response to the changes, which CBS News first reported in August. Previously, anyone who engaged in the covered conduct was automatically disqualified from FBI employment. Under the revised rules, applicants may remain eligible in certain circumstances.

CBS News reported that candidates who engaged in prostitution-related conduct can still be hired if they have not hired sex workers or engaged in prostitution three or more times and if the conduct occurred more than 10 years ago. A person who stole from an employer may be considered if the theft took place more than three years ago. A candidate connected to bestiality may remain eligible if the acts occurred before age 18, according to multiple people familiar with the changes cited by CBS News.

Those sources also told CBS News that the new eligibility requirements do not distinguish between people coerced into sexual activity with animals and those who participated willingly. The Guardian reported that an FBI spokesperson said the bureau was “not relaxing hiring standards” and that the change allows it to consider “the whole of person” in certain circumstances. The spokesperson said applicants who engaged in criminal sexual acts remain ineligible for employment.

The topic drew sharp questioning from Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy, who asked Patel why the bureau addressed bestiality in its hiring policy.

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

Patel said he had been shown cases involving applicants who were forced into degrading acts as victims of trafficking or abuse and later sought FBI jobs. “They showed me cases in which people were forced into it and had applied to the FBI, and so I thought: ‘They should be considered. It’s not an automatic disqualification.’ That’s all,” Patel said, according to The Guardian.

Kennedy questioned the prior wording of the disqualification. Patel said it automatically disqualified anyone who participated “on either side” of bestiality and added, “Obviously, we are never going to hire the criminal side.” Kennedy then asked, “So you disqualified the animal?” Patel replied, “Well, we have great canines.”

Durbin challenged Patel’s explanation, saying the policy referred to applicants who had engaged in bestiality, not necessarily victims. “Applicants who have engaged in bestiality means they were victims of bestiality because they were forced to do so,” Patel responded.

Democrats on the Judiciary Committee sent Patel a letter Monday seeking a “full accounting” of why the changes were made and requesting data on applicants since June 16, 2026, whose files would previously have been automatically disqualified. The Guardian reported that it was unclear how many applicants fit the category Patel described and that the FBI did not respond to a question seeking data supporting his assertion.

Patel also said the prostitution-related change was meant to avoid excluding people forced into prostitution. CBS News reported, however, that the internal changes apply to both solicitation and engagement of prostitution, and that an FBI spokesperson previously acknowledged they could apply to an applicant who admits hiring a sex worker in a place where it is legal.

Patel did not explain during the hearing why the bureau changed its standard for applicants who may have stolen from employers in the past.