And While I'm at It....

[maerdi]

I know the story is pretty old, but this shit really pisses me off.The Bush administration last year quietly rewrote the rules for allowing gays and lesbians to receive national-security clearances, drawing complaints from civil rights activists

Comments

[amoken]

Ick! To make it clearer without changing the meaning, they would have to remove the more specific part, not the more general part. *grumble*

[zudini]

i think he means that the actual practice hasnt changed, but the wording of the regulation was changed to match the practice.

im almost certain i was asked about my sexual orientation when i applied for clearance four years ago. i seem to recall someone at the agency saying that being gay didnt disqualify you anymore, but they do try to make sure you are open and comfortable about it so you cant be blackmailed out of state secrets.

[maerdi]

But here the sexual orientation isn't really related to the disqualification-they are dq'ing based on potential blackmail behavior, not on your sexual orientation; they're only asking about it to get at some other information, which should be okay even under the old legislation. My reading of the language presented is that under the new wording, the sexual orientation itself could be used in conjunction with some other factors to push the weights over the dq edge.