FBI Director Kash Patel faced bipartisan scrutiny Tuesday over the bureau's decision to remove bestiality from its list of automatic hiring disqualifications, telling senators that the change was intended to prevent victims of trafficking and sexual abuse from being barred from FBI employment because of acts they were forced to perform.
The unusual issue dominated part of Patel's nearly five-hour appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 15, where lawmakers questioned a broader set of changes to FBI hiring standards involving prostitution, theft from employers and sexual conduct involving animals. The changes were made through an internal directive earlier this year.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana pressed Patel repeatedly on how the previous rule worked.
"It automatically disqualified any individual who participated on either side of it. Obviously, we are never going to hire the criminal side," Patel said.
Kennedy responded: "Either side of what, the bestiality?"
"Yes," Patel said.
"So you disqualified the animal?" Kennedy asked.
"Well, we have great canines," Patel replied, drawing laughter before Kennedy returned to the substance of the policy. "I'm trying to understand why you did this. Why would you even get into bestiality?"
Patel said advisers initially presented the proposal to him and showed him cases involving people who had been coerced into sexual acts involving animals and later sought careers in law enforcement.
"I say this with respect," Kennedy said. "The person who recommended it, why didn't you just say, 'What planet did you parachute in from?'"
"That was my initial response, Senator," Patel said. "But they then explained to me and 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."
Patel offered the same rationale when questioned by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. "We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked," Patel said. "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 revised standard is narrower than simply allowing any applicant with such a history to qualify. CBS News reported that an applicant can now remain eligible for consideration when acts involving bestiality occurred before age 18. The bureau still conducts its broader background, suitability and security reviews before hiring.
One point complicated Patel's explanation. Sources familiar with the changes told CBS News that the written eligibility criteria don't explicitly distinguish between applicants who were coerced and those who participated voluntarily. That discrepancy helped fuel lawmakers' questions about how the policy would be applied in individual cases.
The bureau has also loosened other automatic disqualifiers. Under the revised prostitution standard, some applicants can still be considered if they engaged in prostitution or paid for sex fewer than three times and the conduct occurred more than 10 years earlier. Applicants who stole from an employer may remain eligible if the conduct occurred more than three years ago, according to CBS News.
Patel told Kennedy that changes involving prostitution were similarly intended to protect people who had been forced into the sex trade.
"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 replied.
CBS News reported, however, that the revised rules can also cover solicitation of prostitution in certain circumstances, including applicants who hired sex workers. An FBI spokesperson previously said some conduct that is legal where it occurred could also be treated differently under the revised framework.
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats had demanded an explanation before Patel's testimony. In a Sept. 14 letter, they requested a "full accounting" of the changes and information on applicants who had been hired, received conditional offers or entered case-by-case review despite conduct that previously would have automatically disqualified them.
"These are not minor technical adjustments," the Democratic senators wrote. "They represent a considered decision to open the Bureau's ranks to individuals who engaged in conduct that the FBI previously treated as disqualifying."
