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Issue Encyclopedia · Guideline H · Drug Involvement

Ketamine

What the decided record shows for this issue, computed from public DOHA hearing-level decisions. Descriptive history, not a prediction.

Does ketamine affect a security clearance?

Ketamine is an issue decided under Guideline H, Drug Involvement. In the decided DOHA record it appears in 28 hearing-level cases, and 25% of the 28 decided ended with access granted (7 granted, 21 denied). The mitigating conditions judges credited most often, and example decisions either way, are below.

Basis: 28 decided hearing-level cases raising this issue. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

More questions people ask the record

Decided cases

28

hearing-level decisions raising this issue

Granted

25%

7 granted · 21 denied or revoked

Official mitigating conditions cited

The formal mitigating conditions the case profiles identified on this issue, in cases that were granted and in cases that were denied. Each is shown with its paragraph number and a plain name. Read what each condition says.

  • ¶ 26(a) · So long ago, or so infrequent, that it is unlikely to recur

    In granted cases
    4
    In denied cases
    2

  • ¶ 26(b) · The involvement acknowledged, with abstinence established

    In granted cases
    4
    In denied cases
    2

Recent decided examples

  • ISCR Case No. 25-01492Granted2026

    The applicant, a 32-year-old engineer, was granted eligibility for a security clearance despite past drug involvement. He admitted to using various illegal substances, including THC, Adderall, ketamin…

  • ISCR Case No. 23-02850Granted2024

    The applicant in this case was a 23-year-old data scientist employed by a U.S. defense contractor, seeking national security eligibility for access to classified information. The Defense Counterintell…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00055Denied2026

    Applicant, a 35 year old DoD contractor employee, was denied a security clearance after the judge found unresolved concerns under Guidelines H and F. He admitted longstanding illegal drug use, includi…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00355Denied2026

    Applicant, a 29-year-old senior consultant for a federal contractor, was denied a clearance under Guideline H, but prevailed on the Guideline E allegation. She admitted extensive marijuana, cocaine, p…

See all 28 decisions on this issue

Related issues under Guideline H

How these numbers are measured

Scope: decided hearing-level cases whose per-allegation profile records this issue, matched to the same issue value the search filters use, so a count here and a filtered search always agree. A case raising several issues counts under each one. The mitigating conditions and the credited circumstances below were extracted for a subset of the record, so both are counts of cases rather than rates. Pages exist only for issues with at least 25 decided cases, and † marks any split built on fewer than 20.

Reading the statistics

  • Granted = access granted or continued; Denied = denied or revoked.
  • Grant rate = granted ÷ (granted + denied).
  • † marks figures based on fewer than 20 cases, too few to be reliable.
  • Hovering any rate shows its statistical range (a 95% confidence interval).
  • Figures are descriptive counts over decided, public DOHA ISCR decisions, never predictions or assessments of any pending case.

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