FBI considers relaxing pot rules after it can't find qualified candidates

JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images

FBI considers relaxing pot rules after it can't find qualified candidates
(Image credit: JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images)

The FBI is considering changing its long-standing marijuana rules because it can't find qualified employees. The agency's current regulations bar applicants from having smoked pot within the previous three years, but FBI Director James Comey said Monday that those rules may soon be relaxed in order to attract and employ more hackers.

The agency is looking to fill 2,000 open jobs to help fight cyber crimes, and Comey considers this a challenge, since apparently many hackers also love getting high. "I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals, and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview," he said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.