FBI EYES LOWERING ITS 'HIGH' STANDARD

WASHINGTON - The FBI, famous for its strait-laced crime-fighting
image, is considering whether to relax its hiring rules over how
often some applicants could have used marijuana or other illegal
drugs earlier in life.

The change would ease limits about how often - and how many years ago
- - applicants for jobs such as intelligence analysts, linguists,
computer specialists, accountants and others had used illegal drugs.

The rules, however, would not be relaxed for FBI special agents, the
fabled "G-men" who conduct most criminal and terrorism
investigations. Also, any new rules would continue to ban current drug use.

Some senior FBI managers have been deeply frustrated that they could
not hire applicants who already perform top-secret work at other
agencies such as the CIA.

"We can't say when or if this is going to happen, but we are
exploring the possibility," spokesman Stephen Kodak said.

Current rules prohibit the FBI from hiring anyone who used marijuana
within the past three years or more than 15 times ever. They also ban
anyone who used other illegal drugs, such as cocaine or heroin,
within the past 10 years or more than five times.