The FBI Finds It Hard To Hire Hackers Who Don’t Smoke Weed

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) may relax its strict marijuana policies to fight cybercrime. On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department charged five Chinese military officials with cyber spying. American officials have alleged that Chinese hackers have stolen American trade secrets. Amid such serious issues, FBI has the responsibility to fight cyber criminals.

FBI is warming up to hire marijuana smokers

The agency has been authorized to recruit 2,000 personnel, mostly hackers, to keep pace with cyber criminals. But FBI director James Comey is facing another problem. He said during an annual conference in New York that most of the country’s top hackers and computer programmers are fond of smoking weed. That’s against the agency’s policy, which states that the FBI can’t hire anyone who has smoked marijuana in the past three years.

One conference attendee told Mr. Comey that his friend was keen to apply for a job at the federal agency, but shied away due to the policy. James Comey said his friend should go ahead and apply for the job despite marijuana use. Looks like the law enforcement agency is warming up to the idea of recruiting hackers and programmers that engage in a fun activity that is legal in a few states. Mr. Comey said at the conference that the agency is “grappling with the question right now” of how to relax its no drug policy.

FBI has changed its mindset

Previously, the Federal Bureau of Investigation director said that the agency has changed its mindset. It now works less “in-box” than it used to, reports The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Comey said that the FBI currently has about 1,300 agents working on more than 10,700 white-collar crime cases across the country. He also warned that the Syrian civil war will have serious long-term impacts on global terrorism. When Syrian conflict winds down, it will produce more hardened militants that would be a bigger global terror threat compared to the outflow of militants following the Afghan war against Russia.

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