Gates Declares Mental Health Policy Changes
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — Applicants for government security clearances will no longer have to declare that they sought mental health counseling related to service in a combat zone under a change in policy announced yesterday by Defense Secretary Gates.
The change is part of a broader Pentagon effort to reduce the stigma for military service members and civilian defense workers who seek care for post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological wounds of war.
“For far too long and for far too many, this question has been an obstacle to care,” Mr. Gates told reporters yesterday. The change will apply not only to military and civilian employees of the Defense Department but to all applicants for security clearances.
Specifically, the new policy revises Question 21 on the SF86 Questionnaire for National Security Positions. The revised form allows applicants to respond “no” as to whether they have sought mental health care over the past seven years if that care was “strictly related to adjustments from service in a military combat environment” and was not court-ordered.
