sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (11/03/83)
At a recent Boston LGAES meeting, one of the membership reported on applying for a security clearance. An investigator asked him, "What would you do if someone threatened to tell your parents you were gay?" He said, "Great! I've been trying to think of a way to break the news to them. What an opportunity!" Incidentally, he got the clearance. /Steve Dyer decvax!bbncca!sdyer
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (11/04/83)
I found your anecdote about a gay man who got a security clearance because
of (or in spite of?) his honesty quite reassuring. What I'd like to know,
though, is whether there is an official policy regarding security clearances
for gays. Was this an isolated case, or is it the rule? I was told a couple
of years back that gays had long been barred from recieving clearances on the
grounds that they might be blackmailed, but that in fact many gays who came
out of the closet in order to preclude this argument found that they were
denied clearances anyway. Is my information out of date?
Of course, my sympathies tend to go more to people who work in jobs where they
don't need security clearances anyway. Since my own sexual orientation is
not likely to make any waves, I've often considered getting myself arrested a
couple of times at some nuke plant just to put a blot on my record and keep
myself honest...
----
Prentiss Riddle
{ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle
riddle@ut-sally.UUCPjrc@ritcv.UUCP (James R Carbin) (11/05/83)
When someone is being investigated for a security clearance, a real irony
may exist. It is not uncommon procedure to interview college professors and
classmates when the individual being considered is a recent college graduate.
They never ask the professors or the classmates if they are homosexual.
I suppose that the investigative process could be recursive: i.e. interview
people who know the professors and classmates, but I doubt this would be
legal as neither the professors nor the classmates have given their authori-
zation for such interviews.
So *IF* being homosexual is sufficient grounds to deny a security clearance,
then our government agencies had better reevaluate the soundness of their
present procedures. Optimistically, I can imply from this scenario that
one's sexual preference is no longer an issue. I certainly hope so. There
are so many other criteria that are more important in determining who will have
access to restricted information.
as ever,
j.r. {allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!jrcwdoherty@bbncca.ARPA (Will Doherty) (04/01/84)
In answer to Robert DeBenedictus' inquiry about security
clearances for lesbians and gays--
Right now, no one who gives out security clearances has a clear
policy on whether or not lesbians and gays can receive clearances.
For a while, the NSA had an informal policy permitting any lesbian
or gay otherwise qualified to get a clearance if she or he
was or became "out" to her or his immediate family. This has
changed recently and the chances of getting an NSA clearance
as an open lesbian or gay are slim.
No one else guarantees that they do not discriminate on the
basis of sexual orientation in granting security clearances.
In fact, many times they seem to deny them for that reason.
However, the more they need you, the more likely they are to
give you the clearance. If you already have a clearance and
then they discover that you are lesbian or gay, they quite
often ignore the fact, although if they want to get rid of you
for other reasons, they may use your sexuality as a convenient
pretext for dismissal. The higher the level of secrecy required
for the clearance, the less likely that a lesbian or gay will
receive that clearance.
I am writing an article on security clearances which will
include a section on security clearances for lesbians and
gays. If you get information on this issue, please send
me whatever you can, so that I can incorporate it into the
article. Also, I would like to recommend that you read
"The Puzzle Palace" by James Bamford, the best book currently
available on the workings of the NSA ("No Such Agency").
Will Doherty
USE: decvax!bbncca!wdoherty
ARPA: wdoherty@bbng