Steve Jobs’s FBI file details personal foibles, drug use

Federal agents poked around the personal life of the late Steve Jobs before he was appointed to a presidential council in 1991, FBI documents show.

The FBI vetted the Apple co-founder before President George H.W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Export Council, according to Jobs’s FBI file. 

Agents interviewed friends and associates of Jobs, and some provided an unflattering portrait of him. 

“Several individuals questioned Mr. Job’s honesty stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals,” one file says.

“They also commented that, in the past, Mr. Jobs was not supportive of [redacted] (the mother of his child born out of wedlock) and their daughter; however, recently has become more supportive.”

Despite these comments, several of those interviewed by the bureau recommended Jobs for the White House appointment.

The FBI documents also allege illegal drug use by Jobs, “including marijuana and LSD” during his college days. But one of the people interviewed said those days were behind Jobs, and that he had turned “extremely health conscious now and rarely even drinks.” 

Many of the details about Jobs and his life were publicized in the Walter Isaacson biography on Jobs that was released last year. 

Jobs passed away in October at age 56 of pancreatic cancer.

The Hill received the documents after filing a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI in October.

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