The Pentagon last week detailed new regulations that ease the restrictions of the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers, an announcement that drew mixed reaction from opponents of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. ”
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates unveiled the rules March 25 and said they seek to provide a “greater measure of common sense and common decency” in the way the 17-year-old ban is carried out.
Beginning last week, the rank of those qualified to initiate a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” investigation was raised to those who are at least a one-star general or admiral. Gates said the military will also look at third-party accusations with a level of “special scrutiny” to ascertain if such charges are being leveled out of animosity toward a servicemember, and all third-party testimony must now be given under oath. Certain evidence will also be inadmissible in an investigation, including testimony from clergy members, doctors, mental-health professionals and abuse counselors, among other individuals.
“These changes reflect some of the insights we have gained over 17 years of implementing the current law, including the need for consistency, oversight and clear standards,” Gates said. “I believe these changes represent an important improvement in the way the current law is put into practice.”
Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-8th Dist.), who is spearheading the legislative effort to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the House, called Gates’ announcement “another step forward in the fight to repeal the discriminatory policy” and a “signal that momentum for change continues to build.”
Murphy’s bill currently has 191 cosponsors, the highest level of legislative support a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal bill has ever seen. Last month, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced a companion bill, the first time such a measure has surfaced in the Senate. Lieberman’s bill currently has 25 cosponsors, including Pennsylvania Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey.
Military officials in February announced they were undertaking a study of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the effect its repeal would have on the military — an effort expected to be completed by the end of the year — and Gates said last week’s regulations were the result of the first 45 days of the review.
Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7th Dist.), a vocal opponent of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” called the changes a “crucial step toward the eventual repeal of this flawed policy,” but said more action should be taken.
“These new procedures do not go far enough,” Sestak said. “If, unfortunately, we are to spend a year studying the impact of repeal, our military and troops cannot be left in limbo throughout this process. President Obama should sign an executive order — relying on the same ‘stop-loss’ authority used to extend tours of duty — to halt all dismissals under this policy.”
Gates has said he doesn’t believe the president has the authority to issue such an order, but national think-tank Center for American Progress has disagreed with that notion.
Sestak sent Obama a letter last month urging him to take such an action but, as of press time, had not received a response.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].