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FBI Wants to Hire Weed-Smoking Hackers


May 21, 2014 | Andy Cush

And according to FBI director James Comey, the bureau’s no-tolerance policy for hiring pot smokers means it is missing out on the upper echelon of cybersecurity specialists. All the best hackers, it would seem, smoke weed.

At the White Collar Crime Institute, a conference Monday at the New York City Bar Association, Comey admitted he’s “grappling with the question” of allowing potheads into the FBI fold in order to help fight online crime. “I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals,” Comey said, “and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview.”

When an attendee asked about a friend who had avoided applying to the FBI because he enjoyed the occasional toke, Comey said “he should go ahead and apply.”

Whether the FBI will stop raiding grow operations and dispensaries in states where pot is perfectly legal is another question.