By The Senate Intelligence Committee passed the 2024 Intelligence Authority Act. 17-0 in the June 14 pollcontains provisions to prevent discrimination and denial of service in government intelligence agencies.
This bill was proposed by Senator Ron Wyden, a senior member of the committee. “This bill contains historic bipartisan legislation to reform the country’s broken classification and declassification system.” Weiden said. in a press release. “This bill also includes my provision to ensure that cannabis use does not disqualify intelligence applicants from serving the country. It is a common sense change to ensure that IC [intelligence community] Hire the most talented people possible. Finally, the bill contains very important provisions to protect intelligence whistleblowers. “
Earlier, in June 2022, Wieden fix Last year, it “prohibited any federal agency from denying or revoking an individual’s eligibility to access confidential information solely because of past or current cannabis use.” The Second Degree Amendment was reduced to intelligence agencies only, including the Federal Intelligence Agency (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Security Agency (NSA). Original text describing “past or current use” was changed to “pre-employment.”
In late September 2022, Wyden’s proposal was opposed by Senators Chuck Grassley and John Cornyn, who opposed its inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
according to Chairman Mark Warner, The Information Authority Act of 2012 “reforms sensitive information processing processes to enable ICs to attract and rapidly recruit a talented, diverse and reliable workforce to meet the new challenges we face.” It furthers the efforts of the Commission to do so.”
On March 8, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes noted the need to include a secrecy clearance. “Frankly, we are aware that many states have legalized or decriminalized marijuana use, and in that context lest we disqualify people for that purpose alone. I thought I would.” Haynes said at the hearing.
“We clearly believe that we want to take the talent that exists in America, and the talent that someone is tapping into. [cannabis] It is experimentally legalized and should not be inherently disqualifying in and of itself. ” Haynes continued. “We continue to approach this from a holistic perspective, and we expect anyone who takes the job to comply with our policies and the law in a position of trust.”
The debate over security clearance for cannabis users dates back to Haynes’ memo in January 2022, Guidance signed in December 2021.
Other federal agencies are working on cannabis consumption as well.
In 2014, former FBI Director James Comey suggested that the FBI should consider relaxing its cannabis employment rules. “You have to hire a good workforce to compete with cybercriminals, but some kids want to smoke pot on the way to interviews,” Comey said. wall street journal.
The FBI initially disqualified applicants who consumed cannabis within the past three years of filing. As of July 2021, the rule applies to cannabis use within one year.
In March Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agency It amended the rules so that anyone who legally grows, manufactures or sells cannabis remains eligible for employment. However, violating state law will result in disqualification.
In May, the United States Secret Service (USSS) updated the rules As for the applicant’s use of cannabis, it said those who had used hemp-derived CBD products within the year before the application would be reviewed “on a case-by-case basis by adjudicators.” Previously, the USSS had an age-based rule that said anyone under the age of 24 could apply if they had not consumed cannabis for one year, but those over the age of 28 were ineligible for at least five years after ingestion.
