FBI director Kash Patel on Tuesday defended changes to the bureau’s hiring standards that allowed applicants with past involvement in prostitution and bestiality to be considered for jobs.
The policy was changed to prevent victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation from being automatically disqualified, Patel said.
Prostitution also part of hiring-policy changes
Kennedy questioned Patel about why bestiality had been included in the revised hiring standards. “When you saw bestiality, I say this with respect: The person who recommended it, why didn’t you just say what planet did you parachute in from? Kennedy asked. “They then explained to me and showed me cases in which people were forced into it and applied to the FBI and so I thought they should be considered. Kennedy asked whether someone who had voluntarily engaged in bestiality should be disqualified. “If he voluntarily did it, sure. But if he was trafficked into it …,” Patel responded. Kennedy also asked why the bureau would “even get into bestiality. Patel responded, “we’re not into bestiality. The FBI’s revised standards also address prostitution. “They can’t be, can they? Patel clashed with Democrats over his firing of agents who participated in investigations of President Donald Trump and suggested that agents might be dispatched to the polls on Election Day amid Justice Department and White House concerns about voter fraud. Cory Booker of New Jersey, his voice rising in anger.
Earlier reporting noted: FBI chief Kash Patel defends hiring policy changes on prostitution, bestiality at fiery hearing FBI Director Kash Patel defended on Tuesday (September 16, 2026) a recent policy change to allow some applicants who have engaged in prostitution and bestiality to be considered for employment, insisting that the move was made to enable victims of those acts to apply for a job without fear of automatic disqualification. He’s like an 18-year old-kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends. He said the bureau changed the rules so that cases involving victims could be reviewed rather than rejected automatically.
Patel said FBI officials had shown him cases involving people who were forced into bestiality and later applied to join the bureau. It’s not an automatic disqualification,” Patel said. Patel said human traffickers forced people into bestiality and other “degrading acts of all kinds” and added that victims should not automatically lose the opportunity to serve at the FBI. Patel said the previous policy treated prostitution , trafficking and bestiality in a way that could automatically disqualify applicants. Kennedy later sought clarification on whether a person who “voluntarily had sex with an animal” could become an FBI agent. He’s an embarrassment to the agency and wouldn’t qualify even to be an FBI agent,” said an exasperated Sen.
Earlier reporting noted: The subject arose during a fiery Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which Mr. Earlier reporting noted: “He’s an incompetent lackey. “You’re not telling us today that if a human being had sex with an animal that they can still be an FBI agent, are you?
“In fact, they ought to be in jail, right? Kennedy asked.
“They cannot,” Patel responded. “They all are,” Patel said. Patel defended the personnel decisions, saying he wanted to ensure that the FBI was not being used as a “weaponised” agency.
Such conduct is no longer an automatic disqualification if it happened before the applicant turned 18. The FBI revised its hiring standards last year to remove prostitution, bestiality and certain other conduct from the list of automatic disqualifications, Reuters reported. The issue came up during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, where Republican senator John Kennedy of Louisiana and Democratic senator Dick Durbin of Illinois questioned Patel about the changes. This allows some applicants with such histories to be considered for jobs at the bureau. The changes were reportedly formalised in June this year. The rules also cover bestiality and animal cruelty. The FBI can now review these cases individually. Bestiality means sexual activity between a human and an animal. It is regarded as animal abuse. The exchange came during a hearing in which lawmakers questioned Patel about his leadership of the FBI, personnel changes and investigations involving US President Donald Trump. Democrats also challenged Patel over the firing of FBI agents who worked on investigations involving Trump, while Republicans questioned him about crime and the bureau’s law-enforcement priorities.
Under the new rules, people who paid for sex fewer than three times more than 10 years ago may still be considered for FBI jobs, as long as they were not in a position of “public trust” when it happened.
Previously, prostitution could automatically disqualify an applicant.
