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FBI ‘grappling’ with marijuana policy amid hiring cyber crime agents

Posted at 9:20 PM, May 21, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-21 21:20:53-04

The current policy for the Federal Bureau of Investigation states that the agency is firmly committed to a drug-free society and work place; if you’ve used marijuana in the past three years, don’t bother applying. 

But the FBI is looking to add about 2,000 extra personnel this year, and the Wall Street Journal reports that many of the new recruits will be assigned to cyber crimes. Obviously as technology becomes more embedded in daily life, cyber crimes will become a priority. 

And therein lies the problem, says FBI Director James B. Comey. According to him, computer programmers and hackers extraordinaire partake of certain recreational activities that go against current policy. 

“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,” Mr. Comey said, in a Wall Street Journal report.

FBI Director James B. Comey said Monday that if the FBI hopes to continue to keep pace with cyber criminals, the organization may have to loosen up its no-tolerance policy for hiring those who like to smoke marijuana…
…Mr. Comey said that the agency was “grappling with the question right now” of how to amend the agency’s marijuana policies, which excludes from consideration anyone who has smoked marijuana in the previous three years, according to the FBI’s Web site.

Comey said, when asked about the policy by an attendee whose friend smokes marijuana, that their friend should “go ahead and apply.”

Read more on the Wall Street Journal.