I wonder what the stats are on how many amazing candidates they are losing because someone had an edible on a weekend 9 months ago.

“Sorry, you admitted you drank a beer 6 months back. Try again in a couple of years and don’t drink!”

I was in talks with a recruiter for a large defense contractor (not Lockheed, but in that ballpark), and the recruiter bemoaned the fact that it was hard to find cybersecurity folks because of marijuana. He said it was an acute problem for their Bolder, Colorado office.

Literally the first two questions he asked me were: 1.) "You know what we do right? And you're ok with that?" 2.) "You don't do recreational drugs, do you?"

“Sorry, you admitted you drank a beer 6 months back. Try again in a couple of years and don’t admit that you drink!”

You undergo polygraph to join FBI, no? Seems like a bad idea to start under false pretenses.

Polygraphs are bogus pseudoscience.

While that may be the case, it is probably not the best idea to lie to federal investigators when applying for a role as a federal investigator.

Yes. But if it flags you they won’t hire you.