Dick Durbin seeks watchdog review of relaxed FBI hiring rules

Sen. Dick Durbin asked Justice Department Inspector General Don Berthiaume on October 9, 2026, to investigate changes to FBI recruitment rules. CBS News reported that the request concerns exceptions to automatic exclusions for applicants with histories of certain misconduct.

Bestiality, paying for sex and theft from an employer previously barred applicants automatically. Under the revised criteria described in the reporting, sexual acts involving animals and animal cruelty committed before age 18 do not always prevent consideration. An exception for paying for sex applies when there were fewer than three incidents, they occurred more than 10 years ago and the applicant did not then hold a position the FBI classifies as one of public trust. Employer theft is no longer an absolute bar when it occurred more than three years earlier.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats had already sought records from FBI Director Kash Patel in September about the changes and their effects. At an oversight hearing, Patel said the revision was intended to avoid excluding victims of sexual abuse. Durbin argued that the director's explanations did not establish the purpose or consequences of the new criteria, and asked the inspector general to examine their development and implementation.

A senator's request does not establish that the watchdog has opened an investigation. Removing an automatic exclusion also does not guarantee employment: it allows an applicant to be considered despite conduct that previously prevented further consideration.