Do you still have to be straight-edge to get hired by the feds?
But generally I’d say no felonies, no drugs (convictions and/or test results) and no strong ties to foreign governments. But the details will vary a bit.
But yeah use and conviction are very different.
Several years later I applied for and received a Top Secret clearance. I fully admitted all prior drug use as part of the process. I was working for a government contractor at the time and was not a government employee.
At the same time I had a couple of friends who worked for a 3 letter agency and had prior regularly smoked pot. They admitted their prior use during the hiring process. This again was during the late 90s when attitudes towards pot were more negative than they are today.