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Home Front: Politix
FBI May Relax Drug Use Hiring Policy
2005-10-10
Article comes complete with quotes from Tommy Chong!
The FBI, famous for its straight-laced crime-fighting image, is considering whether to relax its hiring rules over how often applicants could have used marijuana or other illegal drugs earlier in life. Some senior FBI managers have been deeply frustrated that they could not hire applicants who acknowledged occasional marijuana use in college, but in some cases already perform top-secret work at other government agencies, such as the CIA or State Department. FBI Director Robert Mueller will make the final decision. "We can't say when or if this is going to happen, but we are exploring the possibility," spokesman Stephen Kodak said The change would ease limits about how often — and how many years ago — applicants for jobs such as intelligence analysts, linguists, computer specialists, accountants and others had used illegal drugs. The rules, however, would not be relaxed for FBI special agents, the fabled "G-men" who conduct most criminal and terrorism investigations.
So this 'change' is no change at all.
Also, the new plan would continue to ban current drug use. Current rules prohibit the FBI from hiring anyone who used marijuana within the past three years or more than 15 times ever. They also ban anyone who used other illegal drugs, such as cocaine or heroin, within the past 10 years or more than five times. The new FBI proposal would judge applicants based on their "whole person" rather than limiting drug-related experiences to an arbitrary number. It would consider the circumstances of a person's previous drug use, such as their age, and the likelihood of future usage. The relaxed standard already is in use at most other U.S. intelligence agencies. The proposed FBI change also reflects cultural and generational shifts in attitudes toward marijuana and other drugs, even as the Bush administration has sought to establish links between terrorists and narcotics.

"I don't think you could find anybody who hasn't tried marijuana, and I take a lot of credit for that," said Tommy Chong, the comedian whose films with Cheech Marin provided over-the-top portrayals of marijuana culture during the 1980s. "They're going to have to change their policy."
You tell 'em, National Security Advisor Chong...
An agency's attitude toward drug use has been blamed for unexpected consequences. The CIA forced one of its officers, Edward Lee Howard, to resign in May 1983 after he failed a polygraph test and disclosed his drug use in Colombia during 1975 when he was a Peace Corps volunteer. Howard defected to the Soviet Union in 1985 after he was accused of espionage activities that spy hunters believe were driven by resentment over his forced resignation.
Bzzzzt! Wrong answer, loser.
"I had been totally honest about each and every misdeed in my past, including my drug use in South America and my occasional abuse of alcohol," Howard wrote in his 1995 memoirs. He died in July 2002 at his home outside Moscow.
Of natural causes, Comrade?
Some other federal agencies also have tough marijuana policies. The Drug Enforcement Administration will not hire applicants as agents who used illegal drugs, although it makes exceptions for admitting "limited youthful and experimental use of marijuana." The DEA, however, permits no prior use of harder drugs.
Posted by:Seafarious

#22  11A5S - It's Fred's new "I know what you're thinking - don't do it!" filter... Lol - I dunno, bro, what that is about. Mebbe there's a Mod with an itchy trigger finger...
Posted by: .com   2005-10-10 23:44  

#21  Random drug testing? No problem, I've never tried random. Heard it was the shit, though.
Posted by: asedwich   2005-10-10 21:02  

#20  Hey .com. I tried to reply about 20 times and kept getting sent to Roadside America, after many attempts to ensure that I wasn't using language that might offend even the most delicate among us. Sheesh.
Posted by: 11A5S   2005-10-10 18:50  

#19  I completely agree with .com about the need for those hunting bad people to have had some experience on the wild side of life. No doubt I would fit the desired FBI profile -- except for the broad shoulders bit (I literally only inhaled the one time, but it made me cough). But I was walking around downtown once with my formerly wild brother, and would have walked right into the middle of a drug deal if he hadn't shushed me and led me away. I never saw anything because I didn't know what to look for.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-10-10 18:34  

#18  Test
Posted by: 11A5S   2005-10-10 17:50  

#17  What dot com said! (From painful first-hand experience.)
Posted by: jolly roger   2005-10-10 17:02  

#16  Thanks, I might need a job if Hillary doesn't get voted in in '08. After all, I didn't inhale, right?

William Jefferson Clinton
Posted by: Captain America   2005-10-10 16:56  

#15  LOL AstroJep!
Posted by: Shipman   2005-10-10 15:20  

#14  I get it now. This is why there has been such a shortage of intelligence agents and border patrol! It's the same reason a draft would no longer work. No one qualifies.
Posted by: Danielle   2005-10-10 14:08  

#13  "Although it seems that they were also recruiting guys who had a thing for middle-aged Chinese broads."

LOL! I know the Mormons, having "been" one from 12-16 and even being dragged from Taxes (intentional) to Newtah at 14. They are good folks, but straight they be. There is a fair Asian population in MormonLand - which may be part of that accurate, though puzzling fact, heh. I dated a Japanese girl who was 1st gen American, not unusual there.

Excellent comments...

I think it takes people who are self-directed, but respect command (not demand) authority, have (had) strong curiosity, got it satisfied and realized it led nowhere, so they dumped it and kept looking for personal "answers". What are the questions? Lol - utterly subjective, heh.

So turf wars killed Rummy's attempt? Sheesh - he'll have to go outside the loop then, if he wants something of that nature and he's not willing to wade into the battle and kick a lot of narrow ass. I wouldn't survive 10 minutes in the Pentagon, given the BS to results ratio it seems exists there. We used to say the only officer you could really trust was a Major - who had been passed over at least once for light Col. See few reasons to challenge that pearl of wisdom. Exceptions, such as LTC Kurilla exist, of course, but -> I <- never met one... and that includes the 3 ex-Generals I came to know through a particular job. The One Star was the best of the three, lol. Sigh.
Posted by: .com   2005-10-10 13:22  

#12  LOL, PD. I've always held that one of the main we reasons we hosed 9-11 is that the hiring rules for the FBI and CIA forced them to hire essentially un-clever, un-street smart people. This in turn created a culture that was obsessively rules oriented (I can't circumvent the "wall" because it would be wrong!) and uncreative (let's face it, the guys with the broad shoulders, jutting jaws, and piercing eyes, never had to scheme to get anything). The guys that I knew that went into the FBI after military service were grade-A individuals, but had never had a run-in with a street gang, or knew what a prison tattoo looked like, or what a drug transaction looked like. The were All-American, straight-arrow, never did a bad thing in their lives kinds of dudes. To say that they might have a hard time understanding the mindset of the enemy is not an understatement. It was widely rumored that besides ex-military types, the FBI and CIA were recruiting Mormons because they were among the few demographic groups that could reliably pass the screens. (Although it seems that they were also recruiting guys who had a thing for middle-aged Chinese broads.)

The only way that I know to fix this sort of cultural dead end is to start over. Find a Wild Bill Donvan type of guy and let him recruit his own people. Ease the FBI out of the domestic counter-intel business as the new organization starts to show some success.

Able Danger seems to be precisely this sort of effort. It was staffed by Reservists instead of lifers. It was a conscious attempt to break through the oldthink of the existing intel organizations. It did well until it came to the attention of the Clintonista Tranzi lawyers, who promptly shut it down. There seems to have been a attempt by Rumsfeld to create such an organization in the Pentagon, but he was foiled when established interests discovered its existence and forced the resignation of its chief for alleged unprofessionalism.
Posted by: 11A5S   2005-10-10 13:01  

#11  "the entire mass of a Mass Senator"

Contestant: "I'll take Liberal Physics for $200, Alex."
Alex: "The answer is: a black hole that bends truth rather than light."
Contestant: "What is a Mass Senator?"
Alex: "CORRECT!"
Posted by: Astro Jeopardy   2005-10-10 12:51  

#10  "No, ma'am. We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor we're aware of..."

/Tommy Lee Jones
Posted by: Seafarious   2005-10-10 12:20  

#9  So, like 14 times in each alternate universe is cool. Do they have any rules about the weed being soaked in liquid O? How about layered with O tarball chunks. Or hash... Or peyote...
I'm thinking they really don't know dick about dope... Or people, for that matter. I know straights, never did anything in their lives and sport degrees and such, yet are totally fucked up, worthless, untrustworthy scumbags. And dopers upon a time, who design unbelievably sophisticated microcircuits, can be trusted with the Nuke Football, and have more honor in a single cell than the entire mass of a Mass Senator.

It's an individual thingy, ABC cookbooks rules are for simpletons.
Posted by: .com   2005-10-10 12:02  

#8  I smoked weed only once but didn't inhale, so I'm OK.
Posted by: SwissTex   2005-10-10 11:41  

#7  Also, the new plan would continue to ban current drug use. Current rules prohibit the FBI from hiring anyone who used marijuana within the past three years or more than 15 times ever.

Good Heavens, what kid of braindead BS is this? I mean, who counts their usage of drugs??? And it's very likely that someone that has smoked weed has done so more than fifteen times. When I smoked it in high school, I know for a fact it was more than that.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-10-10 11:29  

#6   I write better code after a few doobs. Of course I am kidding.

I write in code after one too.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-10-10 09:33  

#5  ...Somewhere, J. Edgar Hoover weeps...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2005-10-10 08:45  

#4  Hey, it's much more important that we hire people smart enough to lie about their youthful mistakes than it is to hire those who are honest enough to acknowledge them.
Posted by: 2b   2005-10-10 07:34  

#3  Anybody got that Whizinator I lent out last week?
Posted by: Captain America   2005-10-10 01:31  

#2  "I had been totally honest about each and every misdeed in my past, including my drug use in South America and my occasional abuse of alcohol"

dittos...sorta.

I have lied my ass off had been totally honest about each and every misdeed in my past, including my drug use in Hawaii, Mexico, Morocco, Europe, Asia, South America, North America, Space Shuttle and my occasional abuse of alcohol. *ahem*..and where do I get an application.


Posted by: Elmeng Thaviter2159   2005-10-10 00:36  

#1  I write better code after a few doobs. Of course I am kidding.
Posted by: NYer4wot   2005-10-10 00:26  

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