A report that Elon Musk uses ketamine could put his security clearance at risk

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Elon Musk uses ketamine, a controlled substance, at parties.
The claim could put his security clearance at risk, two attorneys told Insider.
NASA and the Air Force previously investigated Musk for smoking pot.

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A recent report in the Wall Street Journal that Elon Musk uses ketamine at parties could prompt an investigation into his security clearance, two attorneys who specialize in national security law told Insider.

The billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla has a history of running afoul of the rigid standards that the federal government applies to defense contractors, specifically around drug use. The Defense Department reviewed Musk’s clearance in 2019, Bloomberg and CNBC reported, after he appeared to smoke marijuana on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

The Journal reported last month that Musk “microdoses ketamine for depression, and he also takes full doses of ketamine at parties,” citing people who witnessed Musk taking the drug as well as people with “direct knowledge” of his use. While Musk did not comment directly on the report, he has since Tweeted approvingly of ketamine use to treat depression. Insider has not independently confirmed the Journal’s reporting.

Drug use is typically grounds for the government to yank someone’s security clearance, the two national security attorneys told Insider. While the government has lightened up in recent years on the use of marijuana, it takes ketamine, a hallucinogen, seriously, they said.

Dan Meyer, a national security attorney at Tully Rinckey’s DC office, and Alan Edmunds, whose firm specializes in fighting security clearance denials and revocations, both said they would expect the federal agency in charge of security clearances to open an investigation into Musk in the wake of the Journal report.

In the government’s view, “someone who takes a cavalier approach to drug use may take a cavalier approach to the handling of classified information,” Meyer said.

Bloomberg reported in 2019 that Musk had been granted a security clearance in connection with SpaceX’s contract to launch spy satellites into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office. SpaceX also has contracts with the Air Force and NASA. Earlier this year, a SpaceX rocket launched a classified payload for the Space Force.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the Crew Dragon capsule lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on May 30, 2020.

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Musk did not respond to a request for comment. SpaceX and the head of Musk’s family office also did not respond to requests for comment. The Defense Department, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, and the Air Force declined to comment on the status of Musk’s security clearance, and also declined to comment on whether ketamine use is grounds for revoking a security clearance. A NASA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Retaining security clearances is so crucial for defense contractors that some of SpaceX’s publicly-traded competitors disclose the possibility of executives losing them as a material risk, according to a review of SEC filings for companies including Spirit AeroSystems, Leonardo, and Terran Orbital.

There is no evidence that the government has opened a review of Musk’s clearance. But if it does, he will have the right to respond, Edmunds said.

Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer, said using ketamine may be less risky than marijuana because ketamine, a so-called schedule III drug, can be legally prescribed under federal law. Marijuana can’t, even though many states allow it.

He said the claim that Musk used the drug at parties “definitely raises questions,” though he said he can’t guess at what Musk’s doctor might have told him.

Musk’s clearance was previously under review

Ketamine, a controlled substance used primarily as an intravenous anesthetic in hospitals, has become more widespread in recent years as an off-label treatment for depression and other psychiatric disorders. Its use flourished under a COVID-era order allowing physicians to prescribe controlled substances in telehealth appointments.

It also has a long history of illegal use as a party drug. The FDA has not approved it as a treatment for depression (though a ketamine derivative, esketamine, is approved). Security clearance applicants are specifically required to disclose whether they have used ketamine on SF-86, the standard application form used to apply for a clearance.

Musk’s public drug use has landed him in hot water with federal defense agencies in the past.

In 2018, he appeared to smoke pot on Joe Rogan’s video-streamed podcast, after Rogan handed him a massive spliff.

“You want some of it? You probably can’t because of stockholders, right?” Rogan said.

Musk replied, “I mean it’s legal, right?” and took a drag.

The Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube

The brief puff touched off a firestorm of consternation.

The federal government launched an investigation that included random drug tests for Musk and every SpaceX employee for a year, Musk said on the “Full Send” podcast last year.

“The consequences for me and for SpaceX were actually not good,” the tech billionaire said, adding that he had received “a lot of backlash,” over the incident, including from competitors.

NASA paid SpaceX $5 million in 2019 to conduct a safety and culture review, according to federal contracting documents, in part to ensure the company’s “adherence to a drug-free environment,” an agency spokesperson told the Washington Post at the time. In the contract, first reported by Politico, NASA said that the review was “essential for the integrity of the United States space program.”

A former US military official, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of questions related to Musk’s clearance but whose identity is known to Insider, said federal government policy is to periodically test urine samples from people with security clearances to check whether they’re using illicit drugs. It’s not clear, they added, whether that requirement is enforced equally across all clearance-holders.

Edmunds, the security clearance attorney, said that in his experience, there is a “very prevalent” double standard for security clearance infractions, wherein defense contracting executives and higher-ranking government officials receive more permissive treatment than their subordinates.

Musk boosts the benefits of drug use

After the Rogan incident, Musk told “60 Minutes” that he didn’t regularly smoke pot.

But he has spoken repeatedly about the benefits of psychotropic drugs. He is reportedly fond of pulling out a chart to explain to his friends why MDMA and psychedelics are healthier than alcohol, the New York Times reported last year.

“Psychedelics and MDMA can make a real difference to mental health, especially for extreme depression and PTSD,” he tweeted last year. “We should take this seriously.”

Musk has also said he regularly uses Ambien as a sleep aid. Tesla board members, though, have expressed concerns that Musk abuses the drug, and that it fuels insensible late-night antics on Twitter, the New York Times reported.

After midnight on November 3, 2018, Musk sent a bizarre string of tweets about sponges. “20 mg ambien?” OpenAI founder Sam Altman responded.

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