FBI Director Kash Patel addressed concerns from Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii regarding the physical requirements for FBI field agent applicants during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. Hirono questioned whether the agency’s pull-up requirement is fair to women, citing physiological differences.
“One question I had is that you are now requiring applicants to be able to do a certain kind of pull-ups, which a lot of women cannot because of physiological differences. Are you requiring these kinds of pull-ups?” Hirono asked Patel.
Patel responded by explaining the need for physical readiness in field agents. “We are requiring a physical program at BFTC [Basic Field Training Course] at Quantico because FBI agents carrying guns in the field have to chase down bad guys and do really hard work,” he said.
The Basic Field Training Course (BFTC) lasts 18 weeks and includes firearms training, defensive tactics, interview and interrogation techniques, and human intelligence instruction.
When pressed further by Hirono about the specifics of the requirement, Patel clarified: “We are requiring everyone to pass the 1811 standards of BFTC.” The 1811 standards refer to federal guidelines set by the Office of Personnel Management for criminal investigators in law enforcement roles.
Patel emphasized that not all positions at the FBI require meeting these physical standards. The FBI’s website details that special agent candidates must earn at least 12 points across five events—sit-ups, a 300-meter sprint, push-ups, a 1.5-mile run, and pull-ups—with minimums based on age and gender.
Applicants must achieve at least one point in each event; this means female candidates must complete one pull-up while male candidates must do two.
“If you want to chase down a bad guy and put him in handcuffs, you better be able to do a pull-up,” Patel said during the hearing.
Hirono expressed ongoing concern: “There are concerns about whether or not being able to do these kinds of harsh pull-ups is really required of FBI agents.”
“Doing one pull-up is not harsh,” Patel replied. “There are always medical exemptions to that.”
Later in the hearing, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey criticized Patel’s leadership as director: “I believe you’re failing as a leader, and that your failure does have serious implications for the safety and security of Americans and our families. We’re more vulnerable to domestic and foreign attacks because of your failures of leadership. I don’t think you’re fit to lead the bureau,” Booker stated.
Patel defended his record by referencing several recent agency statistics. He noted that under his seven months as director, over 23,000 violent felons have been arrested this year—a figure he described as double compared with last year—and highlighted other outcomes including seizure of weapons, arrests related to child exploitation and human trafficking cases, recovery efforts involving missing children, and increased drug seizures including fentanyl.
