This doesn't change my opinion of the agency

I’ve always considered the FBI to be a collection of incompetent, jackbooted thugs, so my opinion of the agency couldn’t go lower. On the other hand, this report doesn’t make it go higher, either.

FBI Hired Barely Literate Candidates, Urged Fat Applicant To Continue Process, Report Alleges

The FBI is reducing hiring standards to the point where it is considering overweight applicants and hiring barely literate agents, a group of current and former FBI agents and analysts allege.

In a report delivered to the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, the FBI officials describe how Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is being prioritized in the hiring process to the point where standards are being reduced for physical fitness, drug usage, finances, mental health, experience and integrity, the report states.

“To more easily accommodate a larger pool of available applicants, FBI Special Agent hiring standards have been relaxed and requirements measurably lowered in categories that include physical fitness, illicit drug use, financial irregularities, mental health, full-time work experience, and integrity,” the report asserts. The New York Post first reported on the FBI hiring document.

The current and former FBI agents and analysts received the anecdotes described in the report from 20 sources and sub-sources who are either currently employed by the FBI or retired.

Many of the sources and sub-sources had first-hand knowledge of the information and are all highly credible, according to the report. Sources and sub-sources are protected by code names to shield them from FBI retaliation.

Reduced hiring standards have allowed applicants to advance through the FBI’s hiring process despite struggling with relaxed fitness standards, multiple credible sources cited in the report said.

For example, one of the sources “disqualified another applicant because she was more than 50 pounds overweight using the FBI’s body fat index and could not pass the PFT,” according to the report. However, the FBI headquarters instructed the source to continue considering the candidate, the report alleges.

The overweight candidate was a black woman who allegedly told the source she “hates working out and was never active” despite the physical requirements for being in the FBI.

… DEI hires are being selected over higher quality candidates, and the FBI employees running the hiring process are being chosen for their DEI credentials, according to the report.

“FBI Special Agent DEI hires are selected over other FBI Special Agent candidates who are more qualified based on criteria unrelated to DEI priorities,” the report alleges. “FBI Special Agent Assessors who are responsible for evaluating FBI Special Agent candidates are themselves selected based on their propensity to prioritize diversity and inclusion over the qualifications of the applicants.”