FBI May Change Its Drug Use Policy to Hire More Cyber Experts

The Federal Government is having a difficult time hiring cyber security experts. One reason is that cyber experts  can find more lucrative jobs that don’t entail working for the feds.  But there’s another problem: the FBI now says that its drug-testing policies are keeping qualified experts off the payroll.

In order to obtain qualified people for these positions, the government would have to have looser hiring practices, since so many potential applicants use cannabis.

So the FBI is contemplating loosening its reigns and giving  applicants who would fight cyber crime some leeway when it comes to its drug use policy.

The current rule is no one who has smoked marijuana in the last 3 years is eligible to be hired. Congress has told the agency that it needs to hire 2,000 more people this year and many of those would be used to fight computer related crime. Many of the best recruits are young and use cannabis.

So, for this reason, the FBI is considering easing its policy and encouraging people to apply, even if they have recently used marijuana.

To learn more, check out this story at motherboard.vice.com.