FBI to change recruiting standards, allowing more recruits from other federal agencies: report

The FBI plans to change it recruiting standards, in an effort to help the agency get more new-hires from other federal agencies, according to a report.

FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino are pushing the plan, which will reduce the recruits' training at the academy in Quantico, Va., from 18 weeks to eight weeks, and no longer require a bachelor’s degree, anonymous sources told The New York Times.

The change comes as the FBI expects to lose more than 5,000 employees by September, largely because of agents, analysts, and others taking severance or early retirement packages offered by the Trump administration to try to cut the budget.

The FBI has had abou 37,000 employees in recent years, including about 13,000 special agents. After agents leave by the fall, some bureau officials expect there to be aboug 11,000 special agents.

The new recruiting standards will allow the FBI to hire more criminal investigators from other federal law enforcement agencies, such as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, inspector general offices, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Current and former agents told the Times they believe that this is part of Patel's larger effort to have the FBI focus more on street crime, rather than financial fraud, public corruption, and national security cases.

The FBI declined to provide comment to the Times.

More than 100 FBI agents were drafted to patrol the streets of Washington, D.C., as part of President Trump's effort to crack down on crime in the capital. The FBI has always played a supporting role in fighting violent crime by working closely with local police.

Since Patel became FBI director, a number of agents were dismissed, apparently because they displeased the Trump administration. Patel said while going through his Senate confirmation process that the agents would receive due process before being fired.

Patel has “failed to honor that commitment,” the FBI Agents Association told its members on Wednesday.