FBI releases Steve Jobs file

Feb 9, 2012, 20:40 GMT

San Francisco - The FBI on Thursday released a file that it compiled on Steve Jobs when the late Apple founder was in line for an appointment to the President's Export Council in 1991.

Jobs subsequently was named to the advisory panel by President George H W Bush despite the findings of the report, which quoted people as saying that Jobs was likely to 'distort reality' to achieve his goals.

The 191-page dossier noted Job's experimental drug use in the 1970s and his initial refusal to take any responsibility for a daughter, Lisa, whom he fathered out of wedlock with a former girlfriend.

Although some of those interviewed voiced doubts about his integrity, all of them recommended him for the position.

'Several individuals questioned Mr Jobs' honesty, stating that Mr Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals,' the report said.

One FBI source, whose identity was redacted from the released file, 'concluded the interview by stating that even though he does not consider Mr Jobs to be a friend, he (Mr Jobs) possesses the qualities to assume a high-level political position. It was (the source's) opinion that honesty and integrity are not required qualities to hold such a position.'

Jobs died in October 2011. Many of the facts mentioned in the FBI report have long been known, or were revealed in the best-selling authorized biography by writer Walter Isaacson, published shortly after Jobs' death.