2026年9月15日 / 美国东部时间下午3:50 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
美国联邦调查局（FBI）局长卡什·帕特尔周二为该机构降低聘用标准的决定进行辩护，此前他遭到持怀疑态度的议员连番质询，议员们质问为何参与兽交行为不再自动成为聘用的否决条件。
在与参议院司法委员会民主党和共和党议员的一系列罕见交锋中，帕特尔坚称，做出这几项调整是为了确保性侵犯或涉及动物的 trafficking 受害者不会被排除在FBI的聘用范围之外。
“我们不想惩罚兽交受害者，那些被胁迫的受害者，”帕特尔在参议院司法委员会的监督听证会上对民主党参议员迪克·德宾说道。
“我们不想让你仅仅因为曾是这些可怕、极端恶劣行为的受害者，就自动失去在FBI工作的资格。他们仍需通过同样严格的标准和申请流程，”帕特尔补充道。
周二的听证会是帕特尔首次公开回应有关卖淫、职务盗窃和兽交的新聘用标准，这些调整此前由哥伦比亚广播公司新闻在8月率先报道。
此前，任何有过此类行为的人都会被自动排除在该局的聘用范围之外。
如今，在特定情况下，相关人员仍有可能被纳入聘用考量范围。
针对卖淫行为，求职者只要三年内未雇佣性工作者或从事卖淫活动，且相关行为发生在10年之前，仍可被聘用。
针对职务盗窃，若盗窃行为发生在三年之前，求职者仍有可能被纳入考量；而针对兽交行为，多位了解该调整的消息人士此前告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，只要相关行为发生在18岁之前，求职者仍有资格被聘用。
消息人士此前透露，新的聘用资格要求并未区分那些被迫与动物发生性行为的求职者，与自愿参与此类行为的求职者。
听证会前夕，参议院司法委员会的民主党议员致信帕特尔，要求其“全面说明”做出此类调整的原因，并要求该局提供“自2026年6月16日以来，按照此前标准会被自动否决的聘用申请者、获得有条件聘用邀约或进入逐案审查程序的人数，并按行为类别分类统计”。
周二，两党议员都就该决定对帕特尔进行了反复质询，其中大部分问题集中在兽交相关的调整上。
“告诉我之前的规定是什么，”路易斯安那州共和党参议员约翰·肯尼迪问道，他指的是兽交行为的自动否决条款。
“之前会自动取消任何参与过兽交的人的资格。显然，我们绝不会聘用其中的犯罪方，”帕特尔说。
“哪一方？兽交的双方？”肯尼迪问道。
“是的，”帕特尔回应道。
“那你连动物都否决了？”肯尼迪反问道。
“我们有很棒的警犬，”帕特尔说。
“我想弄明白你为什么这么做，”肯尼迪继续说道，“你们为什么会涉及兽交相关的规定？”
帕特尔告诉议员们，一些FBI求职者曾被胁迫并被迫参与“有辱人格的行为”，比如涉及动物的行为，此次调整就是为了帮助这类人群。
“其中一些人后来成为了执法人员，具备了执法人员的资格，之后又申请加入FBI，”帕特尔说。
帕特尔还告诉肯尼迪，与卖淫相关的调整旨在确保被迫从事卖淫的受害者不会被排除在聘用范围之外。
“不是说你是否光顾过妓女，而是你是否曾是妓女？”肯尼迪问道。
“如果是被迫的受害者，是的，”帕特尔回应道。
不过，消息人士此前告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，针对自动否决条款的内部调整既涉及招揽卖淫行为，也涉及实际参与卖淫行为，FBI的一位发言人此前也承认，这些调整可能也适用于承认在合法场所雇佣性工作者的求职者。
了解该局聘用惯例的现任和前任FBI特工以及法律专家此前告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，他们对这些调整深感不安，称这表明FBI在招聘新人才方面可能遇到了困难。
还有多人表示，他们对该局为调整所做的辩解感到困惑，并指出所有求职者都有机会在接受测谎前披露可能影响测谎结果的个人问题，比如性虐待史。
帕特尔在听证会上并未解释该局为何降低了此前可能曾盗窃雇主财物的求职者的聘用标准。
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/kash-patel-defends-changes-fbi-hiring-standards-questioning-senate-hearing/
卡什·帕特尔在参议院听证会接受质询期间为FBI聘用标准调整辩护
（时长04:59）
FBI director insists new hiring standards on prostitution and bestiality were only meant to assist sexual assault victims
September 15, 2026 / 3:50 PM EDT / CBS News
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 Democratic 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.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/kash-patel-defends-changes-fbi-hiring-standards-questioning-senate-hearing/
Kash Patel defends changes to FBI hiring standards during questioning at Senate hearing
(04:59)
