Joe Perticone: FBI standards are "falling by the wayside"
Joe PerticoneCapitol Hill reporter, The Bulwark
Joe Perticone said FBI hiring standards are "falling by the wayside" and questioned whether the change attracts the right recruits.
“Standards and practices are kind of falling by the wayside. It's very apparent at the FBI... Maybe lowering standards results in a recruitment bump, but those probably aren't the people you want to have.”
Original video
Where this statement fits
Kash Patel defends FBI’s removal of automatic hiring disqualifiers for bestiality, prostitution, and employee theft
The FBI changed its hiring standards in 2026 to remove automatic disqualification of job applicants over past prostitution, employee theft, or bestiality/animal-cruelty history, first reported by CBS News on August 28, 2026. At a September 15, 2026 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, FBI Director Kash Patel defended the change as intended to protect trafficking and abuse victims from disqualification, saying "we did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked." Sen. Dick Durbin disputed that framing, saying the rule as written removes disqualification for "applicants who have engaged" in the conduct, not specifically victims. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe publicly called Patel’s rationale "not entirely believable."
Source and context
Original video
About this source
Catherine Rampell and Joe Perticone discuss the FBI hiring-standards change on video, ~20:43-23:30.
Before the quotation
Said in a September 6, 2026 video discussing the FBI hiring-standards change.
After the quotation
Said in the same panel discussion as Rampell's statement.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Perticone says hiring standards are "falling by the wayside" and questions whether a resulting recruitment bump is worth it, an express condemnation of the policy.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Kash Patel, Federal Bureau of Investigation
More from this case
Read the full caseFBI National Press Office: applicants who engaged in criminal sexual acts remain ineligible
Federal Bureau of Investigation
“We are not 'relaxing hiring standards' - that is totally false... any applicant who has engaged in criminal sexual acts like those referenced would of course not be eligible for employment, and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.”Read statement
Maureen Steele accepts the trafficking-victim rationale but says the FBI wrote it too broadly: "Victims deserve mercy. Federal power demands character."
“Victims deserve mercy. Federal power demands character.”Read statement
Wallace calls Patel's testimony "unbelievable," evidence of institutional decline
“unbelievable... just how far the FBI has fallen under the direction and leadership”Read statement
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- Joe Perticone: FBI standards are "falling by the wayside"
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The Dispute Index. "Joe Perticone: FBI standards are "falling by the wayside"". First published: 2026-09-17. Last updated: 2026-09-17. https://disputeindex.com/events/931-joe-perticone-said-fbi-hiring-standards-are-falling