Kash defends FBI hiring rule shift on bestiality: 'Won't target victims'

WASHINGTON: FBI director Kash Patel defended Tuesday a recent policy change to allow some applicants who have engaged in prostitution and bestiality to be considered for employment, insisting that the move was made to enable victims of those acts to apply for a job without fear of automatic disqualification.The subject arose during a fiery senate judiciary committee hearing. Under questioning, Patel denied that the changes reflected a lowering of employment standards and insisted they were designed to prevent victims who'd been forced to engage in that conduct from being automatically disqualified."We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked. We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you if you were a victim of these awful, heinous acts," the FBI director said. "We are not going to target victims and prevent them from serving in their capacity to serve this country."Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.