Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday about the FBI loosening its hiring practices, after CBS News reported the agency will no longer automatically disqualify some applicants whose record includes crimes like soliciting prostitution and engaging in bestiality.

Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Patel one day before the FBI chief testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, specifically asking him about reported changes the FBI made to its criteria for automatically disqualifying job applicants at the agency.

CBS reported in August that the FBI had issued a new directive removing or altering some conditions that had previously automatically disqualified people who applied to work at the FBI, as the bureau has more broadly faced hundreds of agents either resigning or getting terminated during the second Trump administration.

Job applicants will no longer be automatically disqualified if they’ve solicited prostitution, according to sources cited by CBS, unless the person has solicited sex more than three times, has solicited prostitution within the past 10 years, or is applying to work in a position of “trust,” like in a public safety or education role.

Applicants can also move forward if they’ve stolen from an employer, as long as the incident occurred more than three years ago, and if they engaged in bestiality or animal abuse while under the age of 18.

The changes—which do not mean that people with those histories will actually get jobs at the agency—“represent a considered decision to open the Bureau’s ranks to individuals who engaged in conduct that the FBI previously treated as disqualifying,” Democrats wrote, asking for the FBI to turn over documents related to the new guidance.

The FBI previously acknowledged to CBS its policies had changed, but claimed the new provisions were limited to narrow circumstances and denied the agency was allowing people with histories of criminal sex acts to work there, saying in a statement the bureau “has and always will maintain some of the highest suitability standards for its applicants and employees in the U.S. government.”

“Having dangerously thinned the FBI’s experienced workforce for reasons that had nothing to do with performance, you are now asking the American people to accept, without explanation, that the resulting shortfall justifies admitting applicants with histories of employee theft, paying for sex, or bestiality,” Senate Democrats wrote in their letter to Patel.

Patel will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, where he’s likely to be asked about the reported changes to the FBI’s hiring policies. The FBI director has not previously responded to CBS’ reporting, though he did more broadly say in July the agency was “losing too many qualified candidates to the rigors of the requirements from yesteryear.” In their letter Monday, Democrats also asked Patel to provide documentation by Sept. 28 about the policy change, including materials related to drafting the new guidance, records showing who at the FBI approved the change and details on how many applicants at the FBI would have been previously disqualified, but were now being allowed to apply for work.

The FBI told CBS that the changes to its hiring policies were to account for narrow circumstances, such when a person may have been coerced into performing sexual acts or was sexually abused with animals. “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 agency said in a statement, also noting, “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.” CBS reports other sources confirmed the new policy does not distinguish “between candidates who were coerced into sexual activity with animals, as opposed to those who engaged in such acts willingly,” however, and former FBI officials said applicants previously would have been allowed to discuss such special circumstances as part of the application process, before taking a polygraph test.

Former FBI officials and legal experts told CBS last month that allowing people with histories of bestiality or soliciting prostitution to apply for work could prove to be a liability for the agency. “I don’t think anybody who has been involved with prostitution is trustworthy. You could be compromised,” an unnamed retired agent who specialized in polygraphs told CBS, noting that information “can be held over your head.” While the FBI has sought to distinguish its policy as addressing instances of bestiality that may have been coerced, former agent James Davidson said the crime “is clearly a potential indication of a more serious emotional issue” regardless. “Even in a circumstance where it is not, the pool of candidates should be extensive enough that the criteria should certainly not be eliminated,” Davidson, who now runs the nonprofit FBI Integrity Project, added.

1,139. That’s how many special agents left the FBI in 2025 alone, according to an analysis by former FBI analyst Philip Fields. The FBI previously loosened some other hiring requirements to account for the attrition, The New York Times reported in August 2025, including shortening training requirements and dropping the requirement for all agents to have a bachelor’s degree.

At the FBI, a history of hiring prostitutes or stealing from employer may no longer be a barrier to being hired (CBS News)