FBI Director Kash Patel appeared to offend Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono on Tuesday after he told her that female applicants must be required to meet the physical requirements to be recruited by the bureau.

Hirono complained that the pull-up requirement would reduce the number of women on the field due to physiological differences between men and women. Patel told the senator that an agent must be able to fulfill all of the physical requirements if they want to chase down and arrest criminals.

“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.

“We are requiring a physical program at BTFC at Quantico because FBI agents carrying guns in the field have to chase down bad guys and do really hard work. The physical fitness standards of those agents are appropriately assessed,” Patel said. “We are requiring everybody to pass the 1811 standards at BTFC. If you want to chase down a bad guy and put him in handcuffs, you better be able to do a pull-up.” (RELATED: Kash Patel Says FBI Probing ‘A Lot More’ Than 20 Discord Users In Connection With Charlie Kirk Assassination)

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While Hirono attempted to make the rules seem sexist, Patel adamantly stated that requiring applicants to do a pull-up is “not harsh.”

Patel eased many requirements regarding recruiting standards in August. Applicants no longer needed a bachelor’s degree and the 18-week training course at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, was shortened to eight weeks.

Starting in November 2025, the FBI will require all applicants to successfully complete one strict pull-up as part of the Physical Fitness Test (PFT) to become a special agent. The new standard will require a person’s hands to be no wider than two hand widths outside the shoulders and pull their body upward until their chin is higher than the bar.

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