2026-08-28T16:55:00-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-candidates-prostitutes-theft/
美国联邦调查局（FBI）此前曾拒绝聘用承认雇佣性工作者、盗窃雇主财物或从事兽交行为的求职者。
如今，这些在全美大部分地区均属非法的行为，已不再是进入美国顶级执法机构的自动否决项。
今年6月，FBI悄悄放宽了针对联邦探员及其他人员的背景调查标准。据多名知情人士透露，FBI此举旨在简化部分招聘流程，即便求职者承认曾从事性变态行为或盗窃雇主财物。
此次政策调整正值特朗普政府启动以来，FBI因解雇、退休和辞职流失大量员工之际。
知情人士向哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS News）透露，在特定情况下，FBI将允许雇佣过妓女的求职者通过审查，但前提是此类行为未发生过三次及以上，且距今未超过10年。
针对这一指导原则，FBI发言人指出，求职者可能曾在卖淫合法的地区雇佣过性工作者。
一名直接了解政策调整的消息人士告诉CBS News，若身处“信任岗位”的人员招嫖，仍将自动丧失FBI的聘用资格。
根据FBI的新政策，信任岗位包括公共安全、教育、医疗、社会工作、金融或法律领域的相关职位。军方人员未被列入上述类别，目前尚不清楚他们是否会被视作信任岗位从业者。
另一名知情人士透露，根据新的资格规则，曾盗窃雇主财物的求职者不会被自动取消资格，只要该事件发生在三年多以前。
新的招聘标准还专门针对曾有过兽交或虐待动物行为的求职者——消息人士称，只要此类行为发生在18岁之前，求职者仍可获得该局的录用考量。
FBI发言人证实，该局已对资格要求做出部分调整，但称调整范围仅限于少数特定情形，例如童年时期遭受过动物性虐待的求职者。
“任何测谎相关调整都明确区分了两类求职者：一类是有犯罪行为的不合格者，另一类是基于罕见紧急情况可能需要进一步评估的求职者。”该发言人表示。
消息人士告诉CBS News，新的资格要求并未区分求职者是被迫参与动物性行为，还是主动实施此类行为。
前FBI探员詹姆斯·戴维森目前领导非营利组织“FBI诚信项目”，他反对放宽这一标准。
“兽交显然可能是更严重情感问题的潜在征兆，即便并非如此，求职者池也应该足够庞大，因此绝不应该取消这项标准。”他说道。
6月传达的政策调整
多名直接了解这份内部备忘录内容的消息人士透露，这项政策调整已于6月16日通过一份名为“电子通讯”的内部备忘录，传达给参与背景调查流程的FBI工作人员。
FBI官网2023年存档的特别探员招聘要求页面显示，“从事卖淫或兽交行为”被列为雇佣的“自动取消资格项”。
目前FBI官网上发布的通用资格规则版本文件中，并未提及卖淫或兽交属于取消资格的行为。
其中一名消息人士表示，部分新指导原则的核心思路是在招聘过程中全面考量求职者本人，而非仅凭单一因素自动取消其资格。
但现任和前任FBI员工担忧，这些调整可能导致该局聘用背景存疑的人员。
他们指出，这可能会引发人们对负责调查人口贩运等罪行的探员诚信度的担忧，因为这些探员经常需要在法庭上作证。
FBI的新政策也与2015年4月发给所有司法部员工的备忘录观点相悖，该备忘录禁止招嫖。司法部发言人证实，这份备忘录仍然有效。
尽管该备忘录未明确提及求职者，但限制条款适用于所有员工、承包商和分包商。
“该规定适用于个人在职期间的所有时段，包括下班或休年假期间，且无论该行为在特定司法管辖区（国内外）是否合法或被容忍。”这份由时任司法部长霍尔德签署的备忘录写道。
备忘录补充道，招嫖不仅“会招致敲诈勒索、黑色mail以及敏感或机密信息泄露”，还“破坏了司法部根除人口贩运祸患的努力”。
更广泛的人才库担忧
前FBI探员和处理探员雇佣问题的律师告诉CBS News，放宽标准的决定可能导致该局聘用有异常行为历史的人员，并凸显了招聘合格求职者面临的更广泛挑战。
“如果他们在放宽标准，那就意味着求职者池已经大幅缩水。”戴维森说道。
华盛顿律师马克·扎德曾代表FBI探员，熟悉该局的招聘流程，他对此表示认同。
“如果连兽交和卖淫这类问题都放宽标准，这怎么能不反映出FBI存在招聘难题呢？”他说道。
FBI发言人在一份声明中否认该局允许有刑事性行为历史的人员入职，并表示FBI“始终且将继续保持美国政府中对求职者和员工最高的适合性标准之一”。
“多年来，有不少求职者曾遭受过性虐待，导致他们在接受关于卖淫、兽交或其他类似问题的测谎时，并非出于自身过错而影响了测谎结果。”该发言人表示。
但前FBI官员告诉CBS News，曾遭受兽交性虐待的求职者将有机会在接受测谎前的面试中解释相关问题。
“测谎流程的一部分是与接受测谎者和测谎员进行对话，以私密方式探讨、解释和讨论其背景中任何可能令人担忧的内容。”前监督特别探员凯瑟琳·施韦特说道，她多年来的工作职责包括担任人力资源主管。
一名熟悉政策调整的消息人士告诉CBS News，在如今的面试流程中，求职者会被问及是否曾从事所谓的性变态行为。
如果求职者承认雇佣过妓女或有过兽交行为，面试官会进一步询问行为发生的时间；若涉及卖淫，还会询问行为发生的次数。即便求职者 technically符合招聘标准，也不保证能获得录用。
FBI局长卡什·帕特尔并未公开承认有关卖淫或兽交的政策调整，但他曾广泛谈及自己认为FBI需要全面更新招聘标准的观点。
在7月27日发布的与前FBI探员约翰·南茨的视频访谈中，帕特尔谈到了他为改革旧招聘标准以吸引新 recruits所做的部分努力。
“我们正因为过去严苛的要求，流失了太多合格的求职者。”他说道，并以一项针对有既往执法经验人员的新放宽规则为例。
“该局历史上从未有过这么多的招聘数量和申请人数。我们并未降低标准——实际上，我们让标准变得更高了。要成为FBI探员，你必须足够优秀。”
测谎流程
长期以来，FBI一直将测谎测试作为新入职人员（包括探员、分析师和后勤人员）审查流程的一部分。在面试过程中，求职者会接受筛查，以确认他们未犯下特定罪行。
求职者还会被问及其他话题，包括任何吸毒史和境外联系人。多年来，该局已调整了部分标准，例如放宽了对大麻等休闲毒品使用的部分限制。
兽交在几乎所有州均属犯罪行为，而卖淫在大多数州均属非法，仅少数例外情况。全球有数十个国家将卖淫合法化或非刑事化。在美国，除内华达州部分郡县外，卖淫均属非法。
前FBI探员表示，询问这类行为问题也很重要，因为有此类历史可能会让探员更容易受到犯罪分子或外国势力的敲诈。
“我认为任何涉及卖淫的人都不可信。你可能会被要挟。”一名专门从事测谎工作的退休探员说道，“你可能会被引诱并陷入陷阱，这会成为悬在你头上的利剑。”
2021年，司法部监察长办公室发布一份两页纸的报告，称少数官员在海外包括柬埔寨、菲律宾和泰国的出差期间招嫖，FBI因此陷入卖淫丑闻。
数年后，媒体通过公共信息请求发布了该报告的详细版本。
去年7月，司法部监察长证实了一项指控：一名监督特别探员在海外执行任务期间雇佣妓女，并使用FBI配发的移动设备招嫖。报告未提及该探员是否受到处分或被解雇，但指出未对其提起公诉。
2025年FBI流失超1000名特别探员
前FBI分析师菲利普·菲尔兹审查了政府人事数据后发现，仅2025年一年，FBI就流失了1139名特别探员，平均任职年限为21.8年。他的审查结果由非营利倡导组织“正义联络”发布。FBI称其目前雇佣约13700名探员。
其中一些被解雇的探员曾负责特朗普政府不待见的案件，例如涉及调查特朗普保留机密文件以及试图推翻2020年总统选举结果的案件。
“在驱逐数千名职业员工后，司法部在填补这些职位方面面临诸多困难——其中一个事实是，没人愿意被命令开展往往不道德、非法或违宪的政治驱动调查。”前司法部律师斯泰西·杨说道，她目前运营着非营利倡导组织“正义联络”。
司法部民事 division已开始提供签约奖金，以吸引更多律师。去年，FBI还试图吸引退休探员重返该局工作。
FBI去年已放宽其他招聘标准
《纽约时报》去年报道称，FBI正在放宽其他招聘标准，取消了所有探员必须持有学士学位的要求，并将探员在匡蒂科基地接受培训的时长从18周缩短至8周。
FBI官网仍注明，担任特别探员需要大学学历。但帕特尔此后公布了其他几项针对探员的招聘标准调整。
此前，特别探员求职者必须在大学毕业后从事两年执法工作。帕特尔在7月27日的访谈中表示，FBI现在将考虑那些仅从事过一年执法工作的求职者的申请。
“如果你当了一年警察，并且对FBI感兴趣，不再需要大学毕业后两年的工作经验要求。”帕特尔在与南茨的视频访谈中说道，“欢迎加入。如果你能力不足，匡蒂科基地会将你淘汰。军方人员也是如此，我们需要这些人才。”
ProPublica此前曾报道，帕特尔的部分聘用人员，包括他的私人助理，未通过测谎测试，需要获得豁免才能在该局工作。该文章引用的FBI发言人称相关报道“不实”，并表示该局“在人事安全措施方面遵守所有法律和程序”。
At the FBI, a history of hiring prostitutes or stealing from employer may no longer be a barrier to being hired
2026-08-28T16:55:00-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-candidates-prostitutes-theft/
The FBI previously refused to hire job applicants if they admitted to hiring sex workers or stealing from an employer — or engaging in acts of bestiality.
Today, those acts, which are mostly illegal across the country, are no longer automatic deal breakers for applicants to the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
In June, the FBI quietly lowered some of the standards it uses when it conducts background checks on would-be federal agents and other personnel. According to multiple sources briefed on the matter, the FBI did so to facilitate hiring in some cases, even if candidates acknowledged they engaged in sexually deviant activities or stole from an employer.
The move comes as the FBI has lost scores of employees through firings, retirements and resignations since the start of the Trump administration.
Under specific circumstances, the FBI is willing to give candidates a pass on prostitution, as long as they have not hired sex workers three or more times, the sources told CBS News. And the hiring of the sex workers must not have taken place within the last 10 years, several of the sources added.
On this part of the guidance, the FBI spokesperson pointed out that a person may have hired a sex worker in a location where prostitution is legal.
A person who was in a position of “trust” who solicited sex would still be automatically disqualified from FBI employment, one of the sources with direct knowledge of the changes told CBS News.
Examples of positions of trust, according to the FBI’s new policy, are those who work in the fields of public safety, education, health, social work, finance or law. Being a member of the military was not among the listed categories, and it was not clear if they would be treated as such.
Under the new eligibility rules, a person who stole from an employer is not automatically disqualified as long as the incident occurred more than three years ago, one of the sources with direct knowledge said.
The new standards also specifically address applicants who have engaged in past acts of bestiality or animal cruelty – saying they may still be considered for the bureau as long as the incidents took place before the age of 18, the sources said.
An FBI spokesperson confirmed that some changes to the eligibility requirements have taken place, but claimed they are limited to a narrow set of circumstances, such as in cases where a person was sexually abused with animals as a child.
“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 said.
Sources 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.
Former FBI agent James Davidson, who now leads the nonprofit FBI Integrity Project, opposes changing this standard.
“Bestiality is clearly a potential indication of a more serious emotional issue, and even in a circumstance where it is not, the pool of candidates should be extensive enough that the criteria should certainly not be eliminated,” he said.
Changes communicated in June
The changes to the policy were communicated to FBI personnel who are involved in the background check process in a June 16 internal memo known as an “electronic communication,” according to sources with direct knowledge of the memo’s contents.
An archived FBI webpage from 2023 on special agent hiring requirements shows that “engagement in prostitution or bestiality” are listed as “automatic disqualifiers” for employment.
A similar version of that document on general eligibility rules currently posted on the FBI’s website contains no references to bestiality or prostitution as being disqualifying.
The idea behind some of the new guidelines is to consider the whole person in the application process, as opposed to automatically disqualifying someone based on one factor, one of the sources said.
But current and former FBI employees have concerns the changes could lead the bureau to hire people with questionable backgrounds.
It could raise concerns about the integrity of agents who are tasked with investigating crimes such as human trafficking because those agents often have to testify in court, they said.
The FBI’s new policy also runs counter to the views in an April 2015 memo issued to all Justice Department staff that prohibited the solicitation of prostitution. A DOJ spokesperson confirmed the memo remains in effect.
Although the memo does not explicitly address job applicants, the restrictions apply to all employees, contractors and subcontractors.
“This rule applies at all times during an individual’s employment, including while off duty or on personal leave, and applies regardless of whether the activity is legal or tolerated in a particular jurisdiction, foreign or domestic,” the Holder memo states.
The memo added that soliciting sex not only “invites extortion, blackmail and leaks of sensitive or classified information,” but also “undermines the department’s efforts to eradicate the scourge of human trafficking.”
Broader talent pool concerns
Former FBI agents and attorneys who handle employment issues for agents told CBS News the decision to lower the standards could lead the bureau to hire people with a history of aberrant behavior and points to broader challenges in recruiting qualified applicants.
“If they are lowering standards, it means the pool of candidates has sufficiently shrunk,” Davidson said.
Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who represents FBI agents and is familiar with the bureau’s hiring practices, agreed.
“How can this not be reflective of a recruiting problem at the FBI if you are lowering your standards on issues like bestiality and prostitution,” he said.
In a statement, an FBI spokesperson denied that the bureau is allowing people who have a history of criminal sexual acts to work there, and said the FBI “has and always will maintain some of the highest suitability standards for its applicants and employees in the U.S. government.”
“Over the years, the FBI has had a number of applicants who suffered sexual abuse in their past, causing polygraph questions about prostitution, bestiality, or other similar issues to affect their polygraph through zero fault of their own,” the spokesperson said.
But former FBI officials told CBS News that candidates who are survivors of sexual abuse involving bestiality would have the opportunity to address those issues in an interview before they are hooked up to a polygraph.
“Part of the polygraph process is a conversation with the person who is going to be polygraphed and the polygrapher to explore and explain and discuss anything in their background in a private manner that may be concerning to them,” said former Supervisory Special Agent Katherine Schweit, whose assignments over the years included serving as a supervisor for human resources.
One of the sources familiar with the changes told CBS News that during the interview process now, applicants are asked questions about whether they have engaged in what is described as sexually deviant behavior.
If they acknowledge hiring prostitutes or engaging in bestiality, they are then asked the additional questions about when the conduct took place or in the case of prostitution, how many times it took place. Even if a candidate technically meets the hiring criteria, it does not guarantee an employment offer.
FBI Director Kash Patel has not publicly acknowledged the changes on prostitution or bestiality, but he has more broadly spoken about his belief that the FBI needed to update its hiring standards in general.
In a video interview with Patel posted on July 27 with former FBI agent John Nantz, Patel discussed some of his efforts to overhaul older hiring standards to entice new recruits.
“We are losing too many qualified candidates to the rigors of the requirements from yesteryear,” he said, citing as one example a new and more relaxed rule on hiring people with prior law enforcement experience.
“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.”
The polygraph process
The FBI has long used polygraph tests as part of the vetting of new recruits — from agents and analysts to support staff. During the interview process, applicants are screened to ensure they have not committed certain crimes.
Applicants are also asked about other topics, including any history of drug use and any foreign contacts. Over the years, the bureau has changed some of its standards and has, for instance, relaxed some restrictions on the use of recreational drugs like marijuana.
Bestiality is a crime in nearly every state, while prostitution is illegal in most states with a few narrow exceptions. Prostitution is legal or decriminalized in dozens of countries around the world. It is illegal in the United States, with the exception of some counties in Nevada.
Former FBI agents say questions about this type of behavior are also important to ask because having such a history could make an agent more vulnerable to blackmail by criminals or a foreign power.
“I don’t think anybody who has been involved with prostitution is trustworthy. You could be compromised,” said one retired agent who specialized in polygraphs. “You can be lured in and trapped, and it can be held over your head.”
The FBI was rocked by a prostitution scandal after the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General released a two-page report in 2021 saying a handful of officials had solicited sex while overseas in countries including Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand.
A more detailed version of the report was released several years later through public records requests from media outlets.
Last July, the Justice Department inspector general substantiated claims that a supervisory special agent had hired prostitutes while traveling overseas on an assignment and used an FBI-issued mobile device to solicit them for sex. The report did not say whether the agent was disciplined or removed, but it noted that prosecution was declined.
FBI lost over 1,000 special agents in 2025
Former FBI analyst Philip Fields reviewed government personnel data and found that in 2025 alone, the FBI lost 1,139 special agents, with an average tenure of 21.8 years. His review was published by the nonprofit advocacy group Justice Connection. The FBI says it employs around 13,700 agents.
Some of the agents and analysts who have been fired were assigned to cases that the Trump administration disliked, such as those pertaining to the investigations into President Trump’s retention of classified documents and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“After driving out thousands of career employees, DOJ has struggled to fill those positions for many reasons — including the fact that no one wants to be ordered to conduct politically driven investigations that are often unethical, illegal or unconstitutional,” said Stacey Young, a former Justice Department attorney who now runs the nonprofit advocacy group Justice Connection.
The Justice Department’s Civil Division has started offering signing bonuses to try to attract more lawyers. And last year, the FBI sought to entice retired agents to return to its employ.
FBI lowered other hiring standards last year
The New York Times reported last year that the FBI was lowering other hiring standards, removing a requirement that all agents hold a bachelor’s degree and reducing the number of weeks that agents must undergo training at Quantico from 18 weeks to eight weeks.
The FBI’s website still states that a college degree is required to be a special agent. However, Patel has since unveiled a few other changes to hiring standards for agents.
Previously, special agent applicants were required to have worked in law enforcement for two years after college. Patel said in the July 27 interview, the FBI will now consider applications from candidates who have worked in law enforcement for just one year.
“If you’ve been a cop for a year and you have an interest in the FBI, no more two-year requirement window after college,” Patel said during his video interview with Nantz. “Come on in. Quantico is going to screen you out if you can’t make it. Same with members of the military. We want those folks.”
ProPublica previously reported that some of Patel’s hires, including his personal assistant, did not clear their polygraph tests and required waivers in order to be able to work at the bureau. The FBI spokesman quoted in that article called the reporting “false” and said the bureau “follows all laws and procedures on personnel security measures.”