How are we not funding competitive salaries in this field when it's absolutely crucial to the safety of the nation?
The same could be asked about soldiers, teachers, and many others. Funding doesn't correlate well at all with to importance to society.
Football coaches are the highest paid employees of very many universities in the U.S., more than Nobel prize winning scientists, world-changing artists and social scientists, and life-saving doctors. Bench-riding professional athletes usually make more than the general commanding all U.S. forces in the Mideast.
Now if they wanted to be creative they could for example build more offices out in other parts of town, make them more accessible, more moderen, allow a lot more vacation time, say start at 6 weeks, allow sabaticals and so on. But I just don't see FBI going that route.