Pentagon Extends AIDS Tests for a Year

WASHINGTON — Deputy Defense Secretary William H. Taft IV has extended for another year the Pentagon’s AIDS testing program and in the process made it easier for military authorities to advise the spouses of reservists if their mates test positively.

In updating the AIDS policy guidelines, Taft also rejected for the time being mandatory testing of civilian defense employees destined for overseas posts. Such civilian workers will be tested only if they are being assigned to a foreign country whose government requires such a test.

The policy statement issued Friday continues the practice of mandatory blood screening for all military personnel on active duty, all reservists and National Guard members and all men and women seeking to join the armed services.

It further continues the practice of allowing military personnel who test positive to remain on active duty until they show signs of the actual disease.

Change of Policy

But it changes the Pentagon policy regarding education and efforts to control the disease’s spread.

Under a 1987 policy statement, if military personnel tested positive and agreed to provide the names of sexual partners to medical authorities for counseling, the military doctor could relay those names to local health officials unless prohibited by state law.

That policy has now been expanded to say the military doctor can directly contact the spouse of a reservist if that reservist has tested positive. The spouse may then be offered acquired immune deficiency syndrome testing and counseling at a military hospital or clinic, Taft decided, even though the spouse of a reservist is not normally eligible for military health care.

The guidelines continue to allow doctors to notify spouses of active duty personnel.

The Defense Department conducts the largest AIDS screening program in the world. More than 4 million people have been tested under the program, which the Pentagon justifies primarily on the need to protect blood supplies.