Historically, presidential Cabinet picks are vetted by the FBI, but Donald Trump’s administration has instead opted to rely on private companies to review its nominations, a move that could allow it to virtually onboard some of its nominees the most controversial.

Trump and his team are trying to avoid a process they say is both excessively slow and intrusive, and which reveals dirt that could then be turned into political leverage by their opponents, according to interviewed sources. CNN.

The FBI has been conducting presidential background checks since the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, providing a critical security clearance to confirm that malicious foreign agents are not infiltrating the highest levels of government.

But the decision to move away from traditional security expectations has the dual effect of helping the new administration circumvent a particularly grueling process for a pool of candidates who are, by all means, dangerously weird and inexperienced.

His choice as director of national intelligence, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, regularly amplifies Russian propaganda and conspiracy theories. His role would allow him to oversee 18 intelligence agencies, but criticism – even within the House Intelligence Committee— have drawn attention to the danger of his appointment, given his particular affinity with foreign dictators like Syrian President Bashar-al Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump’s pick for attorney general, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, has been the subject of several major controversies. Perhaps most notably, he was the subject of a House ethics investigation that accused him of sex trafficking a minor, and was also the subject of a related investigation by the Justice Department . (The timely appointment – ​​and Gaetz’s subsequent resignation – had the added benefit of murder the House investigation into Gaetz alleged misconduct with women and minors.) Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

And Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a virulent vaccine conspiracy theorist with a wild history that included propping up dead bear cubs in New York’s Central Park for fun — to run the Health Department and Social Services. Last week it was disclosed that the administration did not believe that Kennedy pass the bar for a security clearance — but all that could change with Trump’s decision to move away from the federal standard.

National security experts in Washington say the decision to outsource clearances is further evidence that Trump — who has a known history of benefit of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election – “doesn’t want harmony.”

They “don’t want the FBI to coordinate a standard; they want to hammer the standard,” Dan Meyer, a national security lawyer, told CNN.