By Jana Winter and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) – The FBI plans to make it easier for existing employees to become agents, removing two long-standing steps in vetting applicants as the bureau faces a staffing crunch under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to two people familiar with the move.
FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to eliminate a requirement that support staff already working in the FBI who apply to become special agents sit for an interview and complete a writing assessment.
Instead, existing employees who pass a written exam through an online portal will be able to go directly to the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia for new agent training, according to Jeff Crocker, a retired FBI supervisory special agent and another person briefed on the changes, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
Crocker and the other person said the moves would lower the FBI’s recruiting standards, given that they will eliminate vetting steps during which applicants are assessed on their life experiences, public speaking abilities and critical thinking skills. The applicants are questioned by a panel of three agents who undergo training on how to screen candidates, according to Crocker, who vetted special agent applicants during his more than 20-year career in the FBI.
The previously unreported changes have not yet been announced widely within the FBI, said this person and Crocker.
An FBI spokesperson, Ben Williamson, did not dispute the process would be changed but denied that the bureau is “lowering standards or removing qualifications in any way.” Williamson said existing personnel will still need a recommendation from an FBI division leader and pass the “rigorous training program at Quantico” to become special agents.
“What we are doing is streamlining the process to remove duplicative, bureaucratic steps to the application system for onboard employees,” Williamson said in a statement.
The changes do not apply to all applicants seeking to become special agents, only those who have already been hired for administrative roles within the FBI. Recruiting existing staff is one common way the FBI hires new agents, though the bureau also seeks out U.S. military veterans, state and local law enforcement officers and others from high-pressure fields.
The FBI, considered the most elite law enforcement agency in the U.S., has traditionally set stringent standards for agents who conduct investigations into a wide variety of federal crimes.
Patel has sought to reshape the FBI to focus on Trump’s agenda, referring to agents as “cops” and placing a greater emphasis on countering violent crime and aiding the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. The comparison has rankled some former FBI officials and agents who view the FBI’s traditional investigative focus on national security threats and complex frauds as distinct from traditional police work.
Patel has internally set a goal of hiring 700 new special agents this year, out of a total agent work force that typically hovers around 10,000. The panel interview often screens out a significant number of applicants, according to one of the sources.
Crocker told Reuters that the new, scaled-down process allowing FBI staff to become special agents would not be adequate.
“The consequences of allowing such individuals lacking the impressive and necessary resumes to become FBI agents simply by passing a web-based test will be both seismic and generationally harmful to the republic,” Crocker said.
(Reporting by Jana Winter and Andrew Goudsward. Editing by Craig Timberg and David Gregorio)
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