Job satisfaction, according to some, is the key to a successful career. And what could be more satisfying than smoking pot in the toilets at FBI headquarters?

Such a scenario may be a little far-fetched, but the feds want you to know that a liking for the wacky-baccy is no longer a big issue for agency recruiters.

Indeed, recent comments from Director James B. Comey may seem to suggest a remarkably chilled attitude to the prospect of second-hand therapeutic smoke wafting around bureau corridors.

The US Congress recently authorised the bureau to go out and hire an additional 2000 new staff, many of whom will be tasked with fighting cyber crime.

The FBI has a problem though – many of the best candidates for this type of role have a fondness for illicit herbs, Comey said – something that is currently a barrier to employment according to the bureau’s own drug policy.

The policy clearly states that anyone who has used marijuana in the last three years (and, by golly, you better not have taken any anabolic steroids since 1991) should not apply for any position within the agency.

So now Comey and the FBI are grappling with the question of how to amend the drug policy to allow more ganja-loving hackers into the FBI’s ranks.

Speaking to the White Collar Crime Institute, an annual conference held at Manhattan’s New York City Bar Association, he told delegates:

I have to hire a great workforce to compete with those cyber criminals and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview.

When one attendee asked Comey about a friend who had chosen not to apply to the bureau because of the existing rules, and his likely failure of a drugs test, Comey said “he should go ahead and apply”.

The current drug-free setup has already had a good week, following a coordinated series of global raids in which more than 100 people were arrested over the Blackshades Remote Access Trojan.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice announced that it had charged five Chinese military officers with cyber espionage.

Via: nakedsecurity