FBI chief says anti-marijuana policy hinders the hiring of cyber experts

[bananas]

Source: Arstechnica

FBI cyber recruits "want to smoke weed on the way to the interview," Comey says.

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.

Read more: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/fbi-chief-says-anti-marijuana-policy-hinders-the-hiring-of-cyber-experts/

[bananas]

1. Comey: FBI ‘Grappling’ With Hiring Policy Concerning Marijuana

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/05/20/director-comey-fbi-grappling-with-hiring-policy-concerning-marijuana/

Comey: FBI ‘Grappling’ With Hiring Policy Concerning Marijuana
By Charles Levinson
May 20, 2014

<snip>

Congress has authorized the FBI to add 2,000 personnel to its rolls this year, and many of those new recruits will be assigned to tackle cyber crimes, a growing priority for the agency. And that’s a problem, Mr. Comey told the White Collar Crime Institute, an annual conference held at the New York City Bar Association in Manhattan. A lot of the nation’s top computer programmers and hacking gurus are also fond of marijuana.

“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,” Mr. Comey said.

Mr. Comey said that the agency was “grappling with the question right now” of how to amend the agency’s marijuana policies, which excludes from consideration anyone who has smoked marijuana in the previous three years, according to the FBI’s Web site. One conference goer asked Mr. Comey about a friend who had shied away from applying because of the policy. “He should go ahead and apply,” despite the marijuana use, Mr. Comey said.

Earlier, the FBI director said the agency had “changed both our mindset and the way we do business.” He said it worked less “in-box” than it had in the past.

<snip>

[L0oniX]

2. Everyone I knew using Brute-force, Back Orifice, trojan implants and port sniffers in the mid 90's

...was a pot head ...including me.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Ha ha.