Security Clearances and the Mental Health Stigma

There are many jobs, In both the Government sector and private sector, which require a high degree of discretion due to the sensitive nature of the information that the employees are entrusted with. In order to be eligible for such jobs, employees are required to obtain a security clearance, as well as continuously maintain the rigorous standards of keeping one; one slip up with the law, getting into debt, or feeling of needing mental health care and one could lose his or her clearance and the job associated with it.

There are many people out there that believe anyone with a clearance who seeks out mental health care should not be entitled to keep his or her clearance, but this cannot be a clear cut and dry issue with only one outcome.

To better understand the issue, one should first know the truancies of a security Clearance; a security clearance gives a person the eligibility to access classified information and is issued in three levels: confidential, secret and top secret.

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In order to obtain a security clearance, one must pass a background investigation and be determined that his or her: personal and protessional history indicates loyalty to the United States, srength of character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and sound judgment, as well as freedom from contlicting allegiances and potential for coercion, and a willingness and ability to abide by regulations governing the use, handling, and protection ot classified intormation. (U.5. Department of State). Additionally, security clearances are subject to a periodic reinvestigation every 5 ye In light of recent events in Washington D.

C. where government contractor Aaron Alexis, who held a secret clearance, went on a shooing spree at his place of employment inside the Washington Navy Yard, many have called for reforms and investigations into the process of security clearances in regards to mental health, including Democratic Senators Jon Tester and Claire McCaskill and Republican Senators Rob Portman and Ron Johnson. (Miller). While these investigations will almost surely find areas in which security clearance background investigations could have tighter controls, a zero tolerance policy against employees who seek mental health care would have severe repercussions.

Govemment contractors are not he only people wno requirea security clearance, most or the members of the military are also required to obtain some degree of a security clearance for most jobs. In 2008, the RAND Corporation, a non-profit institution that improves decision making and policy through research, conducted a survey with the goal of finding out why service members who returning from Iraq and Afghanistan do not seek mental health care. Among the results in the survey, service members cited the fear of being denied a security clearance as one of the top reasons as to why the service members does not seek out mental health care. (RAND). Since October of 2001, there has been an estimated 1.74 million services members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them being subjugated to traumatic events or combat related stress. (RAND) Of those service members deployed to Iraq and Atfghanistan, a reported 18.5 percent have reported post-traumatic stress disorder and 19.5 percent (RAND) have reported instances of traumatic brain injury during deployment, but only half of those who needed treatment for these mental health issues seek out help. Additionally, of the half who seek Out mental health care, halt of them only get treated with minimal care. (RAND).

Many service members and govemment contractors do not seek out mental health care due to the stigma that it carries; enforcing stricter controls, in regards to mental health care in obtaining a security clearance, sends the wrong message to those who need mental health care and actually discourages seeking that heip, instead, Service members and governnment contractors should be safeguarded from such negative consequences. Yes, there are those with such mental health problems that will disqualify him or her from obtaining or sustaining a security clearance, but cutting off everyone who seeks help will only damage the future readiness of the country's military and contractor force. In response to the RAND survey, the Department of Defense started to institute changes to help dispel the negative stigma associated with seeking mental health care, most notably to the security clearance questionnaire that those seeking a security clearance are required to fill out. Question 21 of the questionnaire used to state "In the last 7 years, have you consulted with a mental health professional or consulted with another health care provider about a mental health condition?,(Army.mil) which reduced the willingness of an applicant to seek mental health Care, due to the perception that answering yes, would lead to denial of a security clearance.

Question 21 now includes many caveats, expectations and clarifications, including the phrase "Mental health counseling in and of itself is not a reason to revoke or deny a clearance" Additionally, the instructions to answer "No" were added if the reasons were "strictly marital, family, grief not related to violence by you; or strictly related to adjustments form service in a military combat environment" and were not court ordered. (Army.mil). While the security clearance background investigation may not be up to the standards that should be expected, those whose professions expose him or her to traumatic experiences and events that can cause physiological damage, must be protected and encouraged to seek out the required mental health care that may eliminate situations such as the Washington Naval Yard shootings, while eliminating the negative stigma associated with mental health care.