U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told reporters Nov. 21 that he will release the Pentagon's study on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ( DADT ) one day early, adding that, "if this law is going to change, it's better that it be changed by legislation than it simply be struck down … by the courts with the potential for us having to implement it immediately."
Meanwhile, White House press spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Nov. 22 mentioned repeal of DADT fourth while ticking off a list of what President Obama hopes to do in the lame-duck session—behind taxes, unemployment compensation, and the new START treaty.
"Everything is on schedule and my current intention is to release the report to Congress and to the public on Nov. 30," said Gates.
On Nov. 18, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the report would not be sent to Congress or made public "before Dec. 1 to anyone."
Gibbs said the president has not seen the report and Gibbs dodged a question about whether the president had persuaded the Department of Defense ( DoD ) to release the report early. But, clearly, something has the DoD to budge a little on its hardened deadline. And these latest comments from Gates, in response to questions during a press availability in Bolivia, suggest the DoD is preparing for some "change" in the law which currently bans openly gay people from the military. It also indicates that Gates believes a federal court might well strike down DADT if Congress fails to repeal it during the lame-duck session.
In response to a follow-up question about what chances he thinks repeal would have if the vote is carried over into the next session of Congress, Gates did not offer an assessment but expressed "concern" that decisions by federal courts in lawsuits challenging DADT had forced the military to carry out "four different policies" concerning gays in the military "in the space of two weeks…including, at one point, a directive immediately to suspend the law."
"Having to implement this immediately and without preparation and without taking the steps to mitigate whatever risks there are," said Gates, "I think is the worst of all possible outcomes…."
"All I know is," he added, "if this law is going to change, it's better that it be changed by legislation than simply be struck down—rather than have it struck down by the courts with the potential for us having to implement it immediately."
The vote on DADT repeal is not likely to be carried over into the next session of Congress. After prodding from the president and White House senior staff the current Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, agreed to try and bring the defense-authorization bill to the floor in the lame-duck session with the DADT repeal language intact.
Interestingly, Howard Dean, the founder of the progressive Democracy for America political action committee, told MSNBC, "there's no reason for Congress not to" repeal DADT, but that President Obama "has an ace in the hole," if it doesn't.
He can withdraw his appeal in the lawsuits challenging DADT in federal court. Prime among those lawsuits is Log Cabin Republicans v. U.S., which will be argued before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in February. A federal district court judge ruled in July that DADT unconstitutional but the Obama Department of Justice has appealed the decision.
"If he can't do it through Congress, he should do it through the judicial process," said Dean. "This is a critical issue. For people under 35, the president's base, they elected the president, believe that gay rights is the civil rights issue of their time. You've got to do this in order to get the young people back to the polls."
The Associated Press reported Nov. 22 that there were no discharges executed under DADT during the past month. Starting Oct. 21, Gates—responding to various court orders related to the Log Cabin lawsuit—issued a memo requiring that any discharges under DADT must now be approved by three of five senior Defense officials. Approximately 35 servicemembers per month were discharged in 2009.
©2010 Keen News Service
