The U.S. Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that has been approved by a vote of 86 to 11 includes a provision that would prohibit intelligence agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) from denying security clearance to applicants solely due to their past use of cannabis, according to a statement on the NDAA measure from Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado. The amendment proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, was co-sponsored by Bennet and Sen. Martin Heinrich, Democrat from New Mexico. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed its own version of the NDAA with amendments from conservative Republicans, so a clash is expected in the fall as the two chambers work to produce a final version of the bill. It’s not yet clear if the security clearance amendment will make it into the final version of the NDAA that will be sent to President Joe Biden for a signature. The cannabis provision was initially reported by Marijuana Moment.
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