The FBI could relax its hiring policy of no-tolerance towards marijuana smoking to recruit a strong workforce of hackers to combat cyber crime.
FBI Director James B. Comey was cited by Wall Street Journal as saying that the current policy is complicating the process of hiring highly skilled talent.
Comey said at the White Collar Crime Institute’s annual meeting: "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."
While replying to queries of one of the attendees at the meet whether one of the marijuana-using friends can apply for the opportunity, Comey replied: "He should go ahead and apply."
He added that some of the top computer programmers and hacking experts also fond of marijuana.
As per the current FBI policy, it will not recruit anyone who used marijuana in past three years.
The FBI is planning to recruit cyber experts after US Congress has authorised it to recruit 2,000 personnel this year.
Many of the new hires would be engaged in combating cyber crime which is a top priority for the FBI now.
