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Brigadier General Hugh Aitkin (USMC), Lieutenant General Minter Alexander (USAF), Lieutenant General Robert Gard (USA), and Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan (USN) completed a long term study and inquiry into the United Sates Dont Ask Dont Tell military policy. These officials have found serious problems with the law concluding that the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly actively diminishes military effectiveness and unit cohesion. They recommend this policy and the policy of discriminating against gays and lesbians in the military be ended.
The study made ten specific findings :
The law locks the militarys position into stasis and does not accord any trust to the Pentagon to adapt policy to changing circumstances.
Existing military laws and regulations provide commanders with sufficient means to discipline inappropriate conduct.
Dont ask, dont tell has forced some commanders to choose between breaking the law and undermining the cohesion of their units.
Dont ask, dont tell has prevented some gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members from obtaining psychological and medical care as well as religious counseling.
Dont ask, dont tell has caused the military to lose talented service members.
Dont ask, dont tell has compelled some gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members to lie about their identity.
Many gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are serving openly.
Dont ask, dont tell has made it harder for some gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to perform their duties.
Military attitudes towards gays and lesbians are changing.
Evidence shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline, or cohesion.
The following were recommendations made by the study:
Recommendation 1.Congress should repeal 10 USC § 654 and return authority for personnel policy under this law to the Department of Defense.
Recommendation 2. The Department of Defense should eliminate dont tell while maintaining current authority under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and service regulations to preclude misconduct prejudicial to good order and discipline and unit cohesion. The prerogative to disclose sexual orientation should be considered a personal and private matter.
Recommendation 3. Remove from Department of Defense directives all references to bisexual, homosexual, homosexual conduct, homosexual acts, and propensity. Establish in their place uniform standards that are neutral with respect to sexual orientation, such as prohibitions against any inappropriate public bodily contact for the purpose of satisfying sexual desires.
Recommendation 4. Immediately establish and reinforce safeguards for the confidentiality of all conversations between service members and chaplains, doctors, and mental health professionals.
One additional interesting fact stood out in the Study Groups assessment: Those who oppose gays and lesbians serving in the military refused to participate or provide any information. Among those who were invited to participate but declined were Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, the leading opponent of efforts to repeal DADT. Others who declined to participate in this study include Peter Sprigg, Robert Maginnis, and Melissa Wells-Petry of the Family Research Council.
The Study Group was saddened that not a single expert who opposes gays in the military was willing to meet or talk with us in person. For each expert, the group offered to take written, and/or in-person testimony, and offered to arrange and subsidize transportation to Washington, D.C. or to arrange videoconferencing or teleconferencing facilities. The group also asked experts who oppose gays in the military to provide additional names of experts who might participate. Because not a single one of these experts was willing to participate in person or to provide additional names of people who would, therefore the group devoted particular and extensive effort to the study of their published work and any written comments they were willing to submit for consideration.
http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/FlagOfficersBooklet0408spreads.pdf
The study made ten specific findings :
The law locks the militarys position into stasis and does not accord any trust to the Pentagon to adapt policy to changing circumstances.
Existing military laws and regulations provide commanders with sufficient means to discipline inappropriate conduct.
Dont ask, dont tell has forced some commanders to choose between breaking the law and undermining the cohesion of their units.
Dont ask, dont tell has prevented some gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members from obtaining psychological and medical care as well as religious counseling.
Dont ask, dont tell has caused the military to lose talented service members.
Dont ask, dont tell has compelled some gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members to lie about their identity.
Many gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are serving openly.
Dont ask, dont tell has made it harder for some gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to perform their duties.
Military attitudes towards gays and lesbians are changing.
Evidence shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline, or cohesion.
The following were recommendations made by the study:
Recommendation 1.Congress should repeal 10 USC § 654 and return authority for personnel policy under this law to the Department of Defense.
Recommendation 2. The Department of Defense should eliminate dont tell while maintaining current authority under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and service regulations to preclude misconduct prejudicial to good order and discipline and unit cohesion. The prerogative to disclose sexual orientation should be considered a personal and private matter.
Recommendation 3. Remove from Department of Defense directives all references to bisexual, homosexual, homosexual conduct, homosexual acts, and propensity. Establish in their place uniform standards that are neutral with respect to sexual orientation, such as prohibitions against any inappropriate public bodily contact for the purpose of satisfying sexual desires.
Recommendation 4. Immediately establish and reinforce safeguards for the confidentiality of all conversations between service members and chaplains, doctors, and mental health professionals.
One additional interesting fact stood out in the Study Groups assessment: Those who oppose gays and lesbians serving in the military refused to participate or provide any information. Among those who were invited to participate but declined were Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, the leading opponent of efforts to repeal DADT. Others who declined to participate in this study include Peter Sprigg, Robert Maginnis, and Melissa Wells-Petry of the Family Research Council.
The Study Group was saddened that not a single expert who opposes gays in the military was willing to meet or talk with us in person. For each expert, the group offered to take written, and/or in-person testimony, and offered to arrange and subsidize transportation to Washington, D.C. or to arrange videoconferencing or teleconferencing facilities. The group also asked experts who oppose gays in the military to provide additional names of experts who might participate. Because not a single one of these experts was willing to participate in person or to provide additional names of people who would, therefore the group devoted particular and extensive effort to the study of their published work and any written comments they were willing to submit for consideration.
http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/FlagOfficersBooklet0408spreads.pdf
