I’m not sure if communicating with felons would/should revoke whatever clearances they have, but you’ve still hit on a really important point: these men run companies that have billions of dollars worth of federal contracts, and if they were anybody else they never would have passed the required background investigation in the first place. For those who don’t know, federal contractors work on behalf of the US Government, and every single one of them has to pass a thorough background investigation in order to be cleared to work on a federal contract. Yes, even the cafeteria workers who run the food court in a federal building. Musk has smoked weed in public on camera, and while I couldn’t care less about that, anyone completing the federal background investigation form in good faith would have to report that, and it would automatically disqualify them from any kind of security clearance. If they didn’t report it, then that means they lied on an official form, which at the very least would disqualify them, and at worst is another felony.
There are two sets of rules, one for the billionaires and one for the rest of us. They can happily break all the laws that would get the rest of us thrown in prison, and what’s more, they can further enrich themselves through that unlawful behavior.
Just to be accurate, smoking weed doesn’t disqualify you from a clearance. It can, but it’s not automatic, and you might be okay depending on the job, clearance level, and time since you last did any illegal substance.
In my experience, it’s less about the job and more about the personal preferences of the agent running the background investigation. I’ve seen contractors for low-level non-sensitive positions have entire job offers rescinded because they were honest about past weed use earlier in their life (not current). I’ve seen contractors breeze through the same process while flat out lying about their past weed use, and I’ve been told that lying is typically the best option, because the agents don’t have the time or resources to follow up. But if you’re caught lying on a form you’re fucked, so it’s a mix of damned if you do damned if you don’t, but also you might be totally fine depending on how the agent feels that day. On top of that, many of the agents are contractors themselves, so there’s very little incentive for consistency.
Shouldn’t them dealing with a convicted felon automatically revoke their security clearance? Same for Musk which is much more directly involved…
I’m not sure if communicating with felons would/should revoke whatever clearances they have, but you’ve still hit on a really important point: these men run companies that have billions of dollars worth of federal contracts, and if they were anybody else they never would have passed the required background investigation in the first place. For those who don’t know, federal contractors work on behalf of the US Government, and every single one of them has to pass a thorough background investigation in order to be cleared to work on a federal contract. Yes, even the cafeteria workers who run the food court in a federal building. Musk has smoked weed in public on camera, and while I couldn’t care less about that, anyone completing the federal background investigation form in good faith would have to report that, and it would automatically disqualify them from any kind of security clearance. If they didn’t report it, then that means they lied on an official form, which at the very least would disqualify them, and at worst is another felony.
There are two sets of rules, one for the billionaires and one for the rest of us. They can happily break all the laws that would get the rest of us thrown in prison, and what’s more, they can further enrich themselves through that unlawful behavior.
Just to be accurate, smoking weed doesn’t disqualify you from a clearance. It can, but it’s not automatic, and you might be okay depending on the job, clearance level, and time since you last did any illegal substance.
In my experience, it’s less about the job and more about the personal preferences of the agent running the background investigation. I’ve seen contractors for low-level non-sensitive positions have entire job offers rescinded because they were honest about past weed use earlier in their life (not current). I’ve seen contractors breeze through the same process while flat out lying about their past weed use, and I’ve been told that lying is typically the best option, because the agents don’t have the time or resources to follow up. But if you’re caught lying on a form you’re fucked, so it’s a mix of damned if you do damned if you don’t, but also you might be totally fine depending on how the agent feels that day. On top of that, many of the agents are contractors themselves, so there’s very little incentive for consistency.