Gates Faces Uphill Battle On ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

WASHINGTON -The Pentagon has taken the first steps toward repealing the military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gay and lesbian service members, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.

Laying the groundwork for a repeal of the policy will take more than a year, Gates said. In the interim, however, the Defense Department will start enforcing the policy “in a fairer manner,” he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

President Obama called for a repeal of the policy during last week’s State of the Union address.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen also endorsed a repeal Tuesday, telling the committee it is his “personal belief” that “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly [in the military] would be the right thing to do.”

“For me, personally, it comes down to integrity,” he said.

“The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it,” Gates told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We have received our orders from the commander in chief and we are moving out accordingly.”

But the ultimate decision on whether to repeal the policy, he acknowledged, rests with Congress.

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, enacted under President Clinton in 1993, bars openly gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals from serving in the U.S. military, but prevents the military from asking a service member’s sexual orientation. It has been a political lightning rod since its implementation.

“I am mindful … that attitudes towards homosexuality may have changed considerably — both in society generally and in the military” since 1993, Gates said.

To prepare the military for what has been a long-anticipated change, Gates said he has already appointed a “high-level” working group to “immediately begin a review of the issues associated with properly implementing a repeal.”

“The mandate of this working group is to thoroughly, objectively and methodically examine all aspects of this question and produce its finding and recommendations in the form of an implementation plan by the end of this calendar year,” Gates told the committee members.

“A guiding principle of our efforts will be to minimize disruption and polarization within the ranks, with special attention paid to those serving on the front lines.”

The working group will be led by Department of Defense General Counsel Jeh Johnson and Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe, Gates said.

The group will “reach out to the [military] … to authoritatively understand their views and attitudes about the impacts of repeal,” he added.

“I expect that the same sharp divisions that characterize the debate over these issues outside of the military will quickly seek to find their way into this process.”

Gates noted that the Pentagon will ask the RAND Corporation to update a study it conducted in 1993 on the impact of allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military.

He also said he has directed the Defense Department to “quickly review the regulations used to implement” the law and, within 45 days, present possible changes that will allow for more humane enforcement.

The secretary acknowledged the impatience many political observers and activists may have with the timetable for a repeal.

“I expect that our approach may cause some to wonder why it will take the better part of the year to accomplish this task,” he said.

“We looked at a variety of options, but when you take into account the overriding imperative — to get this right and minimize disruption to a force that is actively fighting two wars and working through the stress of almost a decade of combat — then it is clear to us that we must proceed in a manner that allows for the thorough examination of all issues.”