FBI hindered by anti-marijuana policies

[stormium]

James Comey, the FBI director, says the bureau's no-tolerance marijuana policy is hindering the hiring of cyber-security experts. Coney added that he is "grappling" with possibly changing the practice.

The director's comments come one day after five members of the Chinese military were indicted in the US on allegations of hacking into major US corporations and stealing trade secrets

"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," Comey told a New York City Bar Association meeting Tuesday.

The bureau, which is seeking to employ as many as 2,000 new recruits this year, is prohibited from hiring those who have used marijuana the previous years.

source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/...r-experts/

i think that this might play out in an interesting fashion.

surely if the director of the FBI is willing to ignore that his subordinates are smoking marijuana, some leniency needs to be shown to the general public... or at the very least, a decriminalization of the drug.

[NIK]

Alternatively [and far more likely] they will simply turn a blind eye to such lawbreaking by promising recruits and continue to abuse their powers to harass the American public (law abiding or otherwise).

http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/12-...-911/7247/

[stormium]

awww... fbi dude changed his mind.

It didn't take but a day for James Comey, the director of the FBI, to backtrack on his statements that the bureau was considering reforming hiring policies to attract marijuana-smoking cyber analysts. "I am absolutely dead-set against using marijuana,” Comey told a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing Wednesday. “I did not say that I am going to change that ban."

"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," Comey told a gathering at the New York City Bar Association on Tuesday.

At that meeting, an attendee told the director that an acquaintance had decided not to apply to the bureau because of the anti-marijuana policy. Comey responded, "He should go ahead and apply."

During the Wednesday oversight hearing, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) criticized the director's remarks from the day before. "I'm determined not to lose my sense of humor," Comey responded.

source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/...t-smokers/

[ViperScale]

I think it is kinda funny... we drug test others as a small part of what my business does but they have turned a blind eye to IT people where I work. They have chewed us out though but still they know they can't function without IT people.