F.B.I. Plans to Lower Recruiting Standards

[Pommer]

The FBI making a degree a requirement didn't come about until the 80's if memory serves.

Nah, I remember learning in school 50+ years ago that FBI Special Agents were required to have at least a baccalaureate since the early days under J. Edgar Hoover.

 

[ozso]

Imagine, the quality of recruits who will be wielding an FBI badge with 8 weeks of training....

That'll be easy. Just picture US military recruits.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

I don't agree with the FBI lowering their requirements. Even the White House should have more requirements.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

As is the case with most jobs, it’s something of a proxy for intelligence and the ability to follow a course of study under guidelines set by someone else.

It's amazing how "tunes have changed" on that subject.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/as-us-pushes-police-to-diversify-fbi-struggles-to-get-minorities-in-the-door/2015/03/12/01bd5806-c753-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html

Why Is the FBI so White?

The nation diversifies. The bureau, not so much.

www.themarshallproject.org

Entertaining lowering the education requirements in favor of considering "relevant work experience" was evidently "worth considering" when it was discussed strictly in the context of being a structural barrier to minority hiring in the FBI.


Perhaps the cynic in me is coming out here, but I think this is partly a case of the FBI being viewed by some progressives as "their Law Enforcement entity" based on the fact that the FBI has pretty much stood alone as the only law enforcement entity that's acted as a bulwark against Trump.

And now, perhaps they see the degree requirement (given that degree holders who graduated after 2015 follow the pattern of "the longer you're in college, the more liberal you get") as a way of making sure the bureau stays stocked with "like minded" people?


Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure the reason Trump's admin wants that requirement scrapped is partially for inverse reason. Keeping the degree requirement is almost a guarantee that the bureau will continue to be stocked with people who were trained to outright dislike conservatives (or at the very least, think they're dumb and need to sit at the kids' table while "all of us smart college educated people make the important decisions")

Because a lot of local cops aren’t very good?

Given that the FBI's degree requirement lacks specificity (they don't particularly care which one you have, only that you have one), there's a solid chance that many people with degrees wouldn't be very good either.

If it's an NYPD detective who has solved cases (and likely even worked hand in hand with the FBI and knows them personally) and honed the craft of interrogation and investigation for a decade +, but doesn't have a degree vs. a 24 year old with a bachelor's degree and no professional law enforcement experience who took an 18 week FBI training course... it's pretty clear which one would be better at the job.


In the WaPo article linked above:

“We recognize the challenges and the obstacles that law enforcement agencies face in trying to diversify,” said Malik Aziz, the national chairman of the National Black Police Association. “But the pool of qualified candidates of color is there.”

“The FBI tends to look more at candidates who are not coming from traditional law enforcement — when we have an estimated 110,000 black police officers in the country,” Aziz said. “Instead of focusing recruitment on individuals who have completed college and are looking for jobs in the FBI, the FBI should look at the many police departments who have shown a great commitment to law enforcement,” he said.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

That'll be easy. Just picture US military recruits.

Exactly! Fresh military recruits are armed and have unlimited law enforcement authority without any additional training. The liberals are making a big deal about nothing.

 

[iluvatar5150]

It's amazing how "tunes have changed" on that subject.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/as-us-pushes-police-to-diversify-fbi-struggles-to-get-minorities-in-the-door/2015/03/12/01bd5806-c753-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html

Why Is the FBI so White?

The nation diversifies. The bureau, not so much.

www.themarshallproject.org

Entertaining lowering the education requirements in favor of considering "relevant work experience" was evidently "worth considering" when it was discussed strictly in the context of being a structural barrier to minority hiring in the FBI.


Perhaps the cynic in me is coming out here, but I think this is partly a case of the FBI being viewed by some progressives as "their Law Enforcement entity" based on the fact that the FBI has pretty much stood alone as the only law enforcement entity that's acted as a bulwark against Trump.

And now, perhaps they see the degree requirement (given that degree holders who graduated after 2015 follow the pattern of "the longer you're in college, the more liberal you get") as a way of making sure the bureau stays stocked with "like minded" people?

Tunes haven’t changed. You read into those articles something that wasn’t there. Nobody in either one proposed dropping the education requirement. You put “relevant work experience” and “worth considering” in quotes when neither phrase exists in either piece. You fabricated them.

How should the “cynic in me” interpret this?

 

[Pommer]

You know who would be good, loyal-to-the-president, FBI agents?
People who wouldn‘t otherwise qualify for such a position if not for the Trump Administration‘s policy changes!

 

[Nithavela]

How is it "government efficiency" to fire 5000 people and then train 5000 new ones to replace them. And to a lower standard, to boot.

 

[ozso]

How is it "government efficiency" to fire 5000 people and then train 5000 new ones to replace them. And to a lower standard, to boot.

The starter salaries will be less than what veteran employees are receiving. Also the FBI has 37,000 employees. 5,000 is only 13.5% of that. So it's not like the entire FBI would be replaced by employees who don't have a bachelor's degree.

 

[Larniavc]

...to fill an anticipated 5,000 positions by September......

The Trump administration is preparing to lower the recruitment standards for F.B.I. agents, eliciting alarm from many agents who worry that the move will undermine the agency’s primary mission of conducting complex investigations and tracking threats to national security.

Under a plan pushed by the director, Kash Patel, and his deputy, Dan Bongino, the F.B.I. will start welcoming new classes of recruits who will receive less training and no longer be required to have a college degree, according to people familiar with the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe it.

The shift comes as the agency anticipates losing more than 5,000 employees by September, largely as a result of agents, analysts and others taking severance or early retirement packages offered by the Trump administration to try to reduce the budget.

Instead of spending about 18 weeks training at the academy in Quantico, Va., the group of agents, tentatively scheduled to start in October, will receive eight weeks, according to the people. And the agents will no longer need to fulfill a longstanding requisite for joining the bureau: a bachelor’s degree.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/us/politics/fbi-agent-recruitment-requirements-trump.html

Nah, I remember learning in school 50+ years ago that FBI Special Agents were required to have at least a baccalaureate since the early days under J. Edgar Hoover.

 

[Larniavc]

This really is a golden age for people excelling in mediocrity.

America is becoming a Presidential Loyaltochracy.

 

[Larniavc]

I am beginning to think that there is a
"force" destroying the USA from the inside,

That force is thing that has always been most dangerous to Americans: other Americans.

 

[Larniavc]

Explain to me, in your own words, why you'd prefer an FBI agent with a college degree and an 18 week training course, over a person who has actual law enforcement experience an an 8 week training course.

It weeds out the intellectually challenged. It ensures candidates have experienced a wider world and learnt how to think critically.

Otherwise you end up with backward thugs like the American police.

 

[Nithavela]

The starter salaries will be less than what veteran employees are receiving.

So the idea is to fire veteran employees and replace them with cheap rookies?

 

[ozso]

So the idea is to fire veteran employees and replace them with cheap rookies?

They'll be taking severance or retiring. What do you consider cheap? Do you know what the salary is going to be? The FBI has already been taking in about 1000 rookies per year. A lot of jobs with the FBI aren't field agent positions. When it comes to field agents, they'll be wanting those with law enforcement and military backgrounds.

It's hard to figure out why the defund the police left are so upset over this. Other than anything Trump invokes outrage.

 

[Nithavela]

They'll be taking severance or retiring. What do you consider cheap? Do you know what the salary is going to be?

Perhaps you should ask the guy who posted this:

The starter salaries will be less than what veteran employees are receiving.

He seems confident to comment on the salary situation.

 

[AaronClaricus]

They also changed their cannabis policy. Hemp is fine, prescription pill form is fine.

Well controlled mental illness is also fine. Also heard age is a case by case basis up to 42ish.

 

[Nithavela]

They also changed their cannabis policy. Hemp is fine, prescription pill form is fine.

Well controlled mental illness is also fine. Also heard age is a case by case basis up to 42ish.

That I agree with.

Especially the "controlled mental illness" part. If you kick everyone out that has mental illness on the record, you just get people who hide their illness instead of getting the help they need.

 

[ozso]

Perhaps you should ask the guy who posted this:

Because asking the guy who said "cheap rookies" wants to deflect.

He seems confident to comment on the salary situation.

For 2025, the starting salary for an FBI Special Agent trainee is $99,461.

 

[iluvatar5150]

That I agree with.

Especially the "controlled mental illness" part. If you kick everyone out that has mental illness on the record, you just get people who hide their illness instead of getting the help they need.

From what I understand, this is a huge problem among pilots because the FAA disqualifies anyone with any sort of prescription for mental health medication, including basic stuff like adhd meds.