@Paul Weaver,
That makes me curious what
exactly Harry's crime was in "the Disease" - beyond generally disobeying orders-, that made a permission for such specific situations called for.
There must be a nomer that is more specific than any initiative from Harry (because we see him take initiative without asking), yet less invasive than 'don't sleep with aliens in general without our permission' without additional qualifiers because that would be an inexcusable invasion of his privacy since in its most general terms, that needn't corrupt his functioning as a Starfleet officer,
So what is it? 'Fraternizing with a third party when there are potentially opposing interests' or something like that ?
Put differently. Suppose a US soldier in Afghanistan slept with an Afghani woman and in that specific situation, it made him disobey orders (let's say, helping with a hasty evacuation). He is punished for that, but is it conceivable that his superiors demand that he refrain from any
future relations with local girls he might meet, except with the superiors' express permission?
EDIT: I've looked up the script of
The Disease and it's not true.
Kim quotes from the "Handbook on Personal Relationships"
KIM: All Starfleet personnel must obtain authorisation from their C.O. as well as clearance from their Medical Officer before initiating an intimate relationship with an alien species.
So this restriction holds for
all Starfleet Officers, not just Kim.
Question is: why? Is there any analogy to current (para-)military organisations?