This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary is demanding an explanation from FBI chief Christopher Wray about why the bureau is going stupid.

Specifically, why the organization no longer is hiring the "best and brightest" applicants available.

A letter to Wray, signed by committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, asks for a long list of detailed evidence from Wray, including document showing the agents who are working for the bureau now, documents relating to "financial incentives" for hitting DEI goals, recruitment activities for recent years, applications received, evaluations and scoring for them, and more.

Specifically, the committee is requiring, "All documents and communications referring or relating to the FBI's implementation of the Biden administration's DEI executive orders."

"The FBI's hyper-fixation on hitting Biden administration-imposed DEI initiatives, rather than qualifications that make the best federal law enforcement candidates and officers, has created a climate within the FBI that puts the American public and American civil liberties at risk. By turning away quality candidates in the name of DEI, the public's lack of confidence in the FBI's ability to execute its mission in an impartial and competent manner continues to deteriorate," the letter warned.

"On Inauguration Day, President Biden issued his first executive order promulgating DEI programs within the whole of executive branch. A few months later, on April 21, 2021, you announced the hiring of the FBI's first Chief Diversity Officer, Scott McMillon. From that time forward, we understand that the FBI has struggled with attracting enough qualified applicants from all desired target groups to sustain its mission. This is likely due to the FBI re-focusing its recruitment efforts on DEI statistics. In October 2023, a group of retired FBI special agents and analysts, many of whom held senior positions of trust and authority within the FBI, authored a report detailing 'alarming trends' in the FBI's recruitment and selection process."

That 112-page report found the bureau no longer is hiring the "best and brightest."

The letter pointed out "law enforcement and intelligence capabilities of the FBI are degrading…"

"With respect to the decreasing numbers of applicants cited above, the committee and the select subcommittee have been informed by whistleblowers—both active duty and retired FBI Special Agents—that from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, the FBI had over 100,000 applications on file at any given time for the position of Special Agent. During that time, roughly 1,000 new agents—or one percent of those who applied—graduated annually from the FBI Academy. By contrast, in February 2024, FBI Assistant Director for the Training Division Jacqueline Maguire reported that the FBI currently only has an estimated 48,000 applications for the position of Special Agent on file."

The letter noted obvious problems that have become public regarding the FBI, such as "the FBI Richmond Field Office's infamous Catholic memo, the armed, pre-dawn raid on the residence of pro-life advocate Mark Houck, and the FBI's nefarious role in ensuring the Hunter Biden laptop story was suppressed and censored from the American people weeks before the presidential election."

All those factors, the letter said, "contributed to the public's lack of confidence in the FBI's ability to execute its mission in an impartial and competent manner."