NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Pentagon Report Finds Little Risk to Ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

By Foreign Policy Magazine

A Pentagon study group is prepared to find that the military can end its ban on openly gay service members without significant ill effects to the U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The panel, which was created by President Obama in February, will present its findings to the president on Dec. 1.

The report will cite the results of a survey sent to 400,000 active-duty and reserve soldiers on the effects of ending the military's current "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Over 70 percent of respondents replied that lifting the ban would have a positive effect on the military or no effect at all. The authors concluded that the remaining opposition would fade away once soldiers had firsthand experience living with openly gay service members.

A draft of the report was sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs Adm. Michael Mullen, and other high-ranking military officials last week. It proposes a plan for lifting the ban, which could serve as the military's manual on the subject if military officials approve of it.

The report also advises the military against creating a special category for gay soldiers, to monitor equal opportunity or discrimination issues; it said that gay troops, who participated in the survey and an anonymous online drop box for suggestions, did not want a special classification.