It was only one toke on camera, but it may have been one toke over the line for federal authorities charged with maintaining national security.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has “secret” level security clearance with the U.S. government because his rocket company SpaceX is a federal contractor for launch of military spy satellites. But that clearance is now being evaluated in light of his behavior on The Joe Rogan Experience video podcast in September, according to a new report.
Rogan, a former stand-up comedian, pulled out a tobacco-leaf-wrapped “blunt” joint he said was filled with marijuana and tobacco. “You want some of it?” Rogan asked Musk during the live interview. “You probably can’t because stockholders, right?”
Musk replied, “I mean it’s legal, right?” then after Rogan said, “totally legal,” took the hit that’s reportedly gotten him in trouble with the feds. Smoking pot remains a criminal offense at the federal level. The video went viral on YouTube, with more than 400,000 views to date.
A few minutes after smoking the blunt, Musk began laughing and said, “I’m getting text messages from friends saying, “What the hell are you doing, smoking weed?” Musk, drinking whiskey from a glass, went on to say he “almost never” used pot and that it had no noticeable effect on him. He than added, “I don’t find that it is very good for productivity” and “I like to get things done.”
Now, the CEO has re-filed a form that requires any federal-government employee or contractor seeking security clearance to admit to any illegal drug use over the previous seven years, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official. The Defense Security Service is evaluating Musk’s security clearance in a process called “adjudication,” according to Bloomberg.
“Typically during an adjudication a person keeps his or her security clearance but loses access to information classified as secret,” Bloomberg reported on its subscription-only news feed.
A SpaceX official told Bloomberg the review of Musk’s clearance had not had an impact on the company. Day-to-day operations at the rocket firm are run by president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell, Bloomberg reported.
Since Musk’s appearance on Rogan’s show, SpaceX has won contracts for national security-related rocket blast-offs, including one worth $297 million for three launches Feb. 19, according to Bloomberg.
The news comes as Musk already finds himself in a harsh spotlight over his leadership at Palo Alto electric car maker Tesla. On Feb. 25, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a request with a federal court to have Musk held in contempt over Feb. 19 tweet about how many cars Tesla would produce this year. Allegedly, that tweet violated a 2018 settlement agreement between Musk and the SEC.
Three days later, long-awaited news that a $35,000 Model 3 sedan was finally available came with revelations from Tesla that it would close showrooms, shed jobs, cut the price of its Model X and Model S, and probably not turn a profit in the first quarter.
