The FBI and Justice Department are trying to rebuild after a wave of resignations and firings

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and Justice Department are scrambling to rebuild a depleted workforce after a wave of departures over the past year, with leaders loosening staffing requirements and accelerating hiring in ways that some current and former officials see as lowering long-accepted standards.

The FBI has turned to social media campaigns to attract applicants, offered brief training to candidates from other federal agencies and relaxed requirements for support staff seeking to become agents, according to people familiar with the changes and internal communications seen by The Associated Press. At the same time, the Department of Justice has opened the door to hiring prosecutors directly outside of law school to help fill vacant positions in U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country.

Some current and former agents also say the FBI is promoting to leadership positions employees with less experience than is typical for the jobs.

The moves reflect a broader effort to stabilize a workforce strained by retirements and resignations stemming in part from concerns about the Trump administration’s politicization of the department, along with the firing of lawyers, agents and other staff deemed insufficiently loyal to the Republican president’s agenda. Critics of the changes say they amount to a lowering of the standards for a law enforcement institution that has long prided itself on professional expertise and is responsible for everything from preventing terrorist attacks to carrying out complex public corruption prosecutions.

“It’s a sign, among other things, of the difficulty the department now has in retaining and recruiting people,” said Greg Brewer, a former U.S. attorney in Nevada who left the FBI in 2018 as its chief liaison to Congress.

FBI Director Kash Patel, next to US Attorney Pam Bondi, speaks at a news conference following the arrest in the DC pipe bombing investigation, at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, US, December 4, 2025. Photo by Jessica Koscielniak/Reuters.

The FBI has defended the changes as a necessary update to its hiring pipeline, saying it is simplifying, not lowering, standards and removing what it says are “bureaucratic” steps in the application process. She said applicants are still being evaluated “on the same competencies.”

“The Bureau has high standards for prospective and current employees, and there is a rigorous application and background process to join the FBI,” the FBI said in a statement.

Requirements have been waived in some cases to become an FBI agent

Long viewed as the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency, the FBI’s hiring process is based on physical fitness tests, a writing assessment, an interview, and a training academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Elements of the system have been modified periodically to fit the bureau’s needs, including over the past year under the leadership of FBI Director Kash Patel.

With the slogan “Let good cops be cops,” Patel announced last fall that transferees from other agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration would be able to complete a nine-week training academy instead of the traditional academy that runs more than four months. The change has angered some current and former officials, who say the FBI’s protocols, professional culture and diversity of cases help set it apart from other agencies.

For support workers looking to become agents, the bureau recently said it would waive requirements for a written evaluation and interview with a three-member panel of FBI agents meant to assess life experience and judgment, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the moves and an internal written letter seen by the AP.

Staff on the ship will still need recommendations from a senior commander and complete Quantico training, the FBI said.

“We are not lowering standards or removing qualifications in any way. What we are doing is simplifying the process to remove the duplicative bureaucratic steps of the application system for onboarding employees,” the FBI said in a statement, adding: “These are changes based on a broad range of feedback from successful agents with over 20 years of experience.”

Patel boasted in January of a 112% increase in applications, and the FBI says it has a “clear path” to adding about 700 special agents this year, and that Quantico’s current chapter is one of its largest in years. But some people familiar with the matter say the increase in requests does not necessarily correspond with an increase in the number of high-caliber employees that can offset the attrition the office has suffered.

At the other end of the staffing spectrum, the FBI also faces turnover among senior leaders, including special agents in charge, a title given to leaders of most of the bureau’s 56 field offices. Some have been fired by Patel over the past year and others have retired. Many offices are now headed by someone who has been in the job for less than a year.

Faced with what current and former officials say is difficulty filling some positions, the FBI has moved quickly to promote agents up the career ladder, people familiar with the matter say. This includes promoting Assistant Special Agents in Charge to Special Agents in Charge and opening the door for employees to be considered for leadership roles without the significant headquarters experience that the FBI has historically deemed necessary to have a comprehensive view of the Bureau’s operations.

As a conservative podcast host before becoming director, Patel talked about closing FBI headquarters and turning it into a “deep state” museum, telling colleagues on his first day as director that he would move hundreds of employees from Washington to the field.

“As a field agent, you have the mentality of a field agent, you have the perspective of a field agent,” said Chris Pihota, a retired senior FBI executive. He added that without adequate experience at headquarters, you don’t know “the FBI business side, the FBI logistics side, or the political jungle” that can come with the job.

Ministry of Justice changes

At the same time, the Justice Department lowered employment requirements for some federal prosecutors.

Department officials recently discontinued a policy requiring U.S. attorneys’ offices to appoint only prosecutors with at least one year of experience practicing law. The ministry did not explain why, but said in a statement that it was “proud to empower young, motivated prosecutors and provide lawyers at all levels with the opportunity to invest their talents in keeping their communities safe.”

It comes as parts of the agency struggle to keep up with the workload amid severe staffing shortages, with the department recently admitting it has lost nearly 1,000 assistant U.S. attorneys.

In Minnesota, for example, the federal prosecutor’s office was bankrupted by resignations amid frustration with the administration’s tightening of immigration enforcement and the department’s response to fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents.

The Justice Department headquarters in Washington has suffered staff losses as well.

The number of attorneys in the Criminal Division’s Violent Crimes and Racketeering Section, which prosecutes organized crime groups and violent gangs, has declined significantly, although the division is looking to hire additional attorneys. The National Security Division that handles espionage cases reported a 40% drop in the number of prosecutors.

The department said in a statement that it has seen an increase in criminal complaints and indictments despite the loss of prosecutors, highlighting the “bloated, ineffective and militarized” institution it says the administration inherited.

Officials have recruited military lawyers to serve as special prosecutors in some offices. The department also used social media to recruit applicants. A recent post from the FBI office in Omaha, Nebraska said: “A mission bigger than yourself. An important mission. If you are up for the challenge, there is a place for you on the FBI team.”

Chad Mizell, who served as chief of staff to Trump’s first prosecutor, Pam Bondi, recently urged lawyers to contact him at X if they want to become prosecutors, “and support President Trump and his anti-crime agenda.” Mizell’s post raised eyebrows not only because federal prosecutors were not generally solicited via social media, but also because the president’s support was not a prerequisite for career staff.

“We need good prosecutors,” wrote Mizell, who left the department in October. “The Department of Justice is hiring across the country. Now is your chance to join the mission and do good for our country.”