IMPEACH BUSH

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. troops would no longer be asked to reveal previous mental health treatment when applying for security clearances under a proposal being considered by the Pentagon.

The idea stems from the finding that service members avoid needed counseling because they believe that getting it — and acknowledging it — could cost them their clearance as well as do other harm to their careers, The Associated Press has learned.

"This is just one of several items under review by the Department of Defense and the services in an effort to remove the stigma associated with mental health issues," said Air Force Maj. Patrick Ryder.

The proposal is to omit a question regarding mental health treatment that appears on a form required by the Office of Personnel Management, the agency that does the majority of investigations for granting clearances to military and civilian workers in the federal government.

Currently, the questionnaire asks applicants whether they have consulted a mental health professional in the last seven years. If so, they are asked to list the names, addresses and dates they saw the doctor or therapist.

The Pentagon has been working for some time to end the stigma of counseling. Studies indicate that soldiers most in need of post-combat health care are the least likely to get it because they fear that others will have less confidence in them, that it will threaten career advancement and that it could result in loss of their security clearance and possibly removal from their unit.

Statistics indicate that the perception of stigma is "far worse than the reality" when it comes to getting security clearances, Ryder said. Last year, less than .05% of some 800,000 people investigated for clearances were rejected on the sole issue of their mental health profile, he said.

That's because the clearance process is done on the "whole-person concept" — that is, it weighs a number of factors about the person's past and present, favorable and unfavorable. People can be prevented from getting a clearance if they have been convicted and imprisoned, are addicted to any controlled substance, have been discharged dishonorably from the service or are currently mentally incompetent.

If the application for clearances is changed to omit the question on previous counseling, it would be just a small part of the effort to encourage service members to get mental health care.

An education program for personnel at all levels of the military is among main recommendations of a year-long mental health study. The task force study, ordered by Congress, called for urgent action to improve care for members of the military, under strain from simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said earlier Friday.

A change already made is a program called Respect.mil, Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, the acting surgeon general of the Army, said at a news conference on the task force report. Under the program, instead of requiring soldiers or their family members to go to a designated location where it's clear they're getting behavioral health care, they can get the care at a primary care center.
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