The President Donald Trump nominee for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (DNI’s) second-highest ranking position says that he ‘agrees’ with the notion that marijuana usage in the past should not be a bar to federal employees obtaining security clearance.
He says it’s a completely different matter to extend that policy and include current cannabis usage.
Aaron Lukas has answered the questions that members submitted for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s confirmation hearing, which will take place on Wednesday. The list included a question on marijuana policy.
Are you in agreement with DNI’s policy, which states that marijuana past use is not a factor to consider when determining whether or not a person receives a security clearance? The committee then asked: The committee asked: “Are you of the opinion that marijuana usage should not also be considered determinative, and treated as alcohol?”
Lukas has been a member of the foreign service for over twenty years. He said he is in agreement with current ODNI policies that “past marijuana use should not by itself be determinative when adjudicating security clearances.”
While he claimed to be “unaware of DNI’s current policy regarding ongoing marijuana use,” he is “not convinced” that relaxing drug restrictions will benefit anyone. [intelligence community] “It is best for national security that officers are in place.”
Lukas’s remarks, made during a hearing to confirm his nomination, are essentially echoes of comments that former Rep. Tulsi Gabrield (D/R-HI), the DNI head, had previously made in response to the same question as part of the confirmation process.
She said, “I am in agreement with DNI’s current policy that marijuana usage should not determine the decision on security clearances as long as it doesn’t indicate any underlying issues of judgment or reliability.”
Gabbard continued, “however, marijuana usage that continues is more complicated, since it’s illegal under federal laws.” The applicant’s general behavior must also be considered, as well as the legal obligations. a classifIed document.”
The Intelligence Committee’s QFRs don’t indicate which members submitted each question to either Lukas or Gabbard. Ron Wyden, a member of the committee from Oregon who is a Democrat, has worked for years to stop applicants to intelligence agencies including CIA and NSA being denied security clearances because they have admitted to cannabis use.
In 2023, the committee voted to amend an intelligence oversight bill to include a provision from Wyden that would achieve that reform, but it was not ultimately enacted.
Former President Joe Biden’s DNI, Avril Haines, had separately said in 2023 that it is not the federal government’s current policy to deny people security clearances based on past marijuana use alone, stating that it is counterproductive to recruitment efforts, especially amid the growing legalization movement.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed a bill in September last year to restrict the federal agencies’ ability to consider past marijuana usage when making decisions about employment and clearances. The bill was called the DOOBIE (Dismantling Outdated Obstacles, Barriers, and Barriers for Individual Employment) Act.
Later, the Congressional Budget Office released a report on the proposal. It found that it had a negligible impact on government finances.
Elon M. Musk, the head of Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, said, in February, that the mandated drug-testing of federal workers is a “great” idea, while he advocates massive spending cuts and government agency reductions.
In the meantime, a Democratic congresswoman introduced a bill that will require Musk and DOGE staff to be drug tested to keep their status of “special employees”
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