Joint Chiefs Split on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal

As expected, the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Amos, recommended against repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces.

Testifying Friday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Amos said he could not "turn my back'' on the 45 percent of Marines who expressed negative views of repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" in a year-long Pentagon survey.

"The young men and women who volunteer to be Marines do so with honorable and patriotic intensions, and even vast differences in background, beliefs or personalities can be bridged,'' Amos told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

But among Marine combat arms units, 56 percent said allowing openly gay or lesbian Marines to serve would have negative impacts on fighting effectiveness and cohesion. He said that view was held almost uniformly across all ranks.

"We asked for their opinions and they gave them to us. Their message to me is that the potential exists for disruption to the successful execution of our current combat mission should repeal be implemented at this time.''

But, he added, "based on what I know about the very tough fight on the ground in Afghanistan, the almost singular focus of our combat forces as they train up and deploy into theater, the necessary tightly woven culture of those combat forces that we are asking so much of at this time . . . my recommendation is that we should not implement repeal at this time.''

Amos and the other three military service chiefs were testifying at the second of two days of hearings into potential repeal of DADT.

Of the four chiefs, two not only said their troops could accommodate serving with openly gay service members, but they outright urged that Congress act to repeal the law: Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz.

The Army's chief of staff, Gen. George W. Casey, did not recommend repeal. But he told the committee that after weighing all the evidence, "I don't envision that repeal would keep us from accomplishing our worldwide missions, including combat operations.''

However, both Casey and Schwartz said they believed the law should not be repealed immediately.

"I don't believe the presence of a gay or lesbian service member creates an unacceptable risk to good order and discipline -- and from the survey it appears a large number of our service members don't believe that either,'' Casey said. "But it's a question of timing. I would not recommend going forward at this time given everything the Army has on its plate.''

Schwartz said immediate implementation would be "too risky . . . perhaps full implementation in 2012 at the earliest.''

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged Congress Thursday to lift the ban on gays in the military. That would allow, they said, for an orderly process of implementation. In the legislation that would repeal the law is a provision requiring that the president, defense secretary and joint chiefs chairman -- with the advice of the service chiefs -- certify that all steps have been taken to ensure an orderly implementation of repeal and that the change would not negatively affect military effectiveness.

Should Congress fail to act, they said, the risk is that the courts will order the ban to be lifted immediately, throwing the military into chaos.