Patel defends FBI hiring changes involving bestiality, prostitution

Driving the news: The senator grilled Patel about the FBI's guidance from this spring that lifted an automatic disqualification for applicants who had been involved with prostitution, with a similar change for bestiality.

• Patel has previously rejected the idea that his broader hiring overhaul amounts to lowering FBI standards, saying in July, "We're not reducing our standards — we're actually making it harder."
• An FBI spokesperson previously denied to CBS News that the change means the agency will allow people with a history of criminal sex acts to work there.

Patel defended the changes on Tuesday as an effort to protect victims who were forced into engaging in such acts.

• Kennedy specifically emphasized the bestiality policy in his questioning: "When you saw bestiality — I say this with respect to the person who recommended it — why didn't you just say, 'What planet did you parachute in from?'"
• "That was my initial response, senator. But they then explained to me and showed me cases in which people were forced into it and had applied to the FBI, and so I thought they should be considered."