'Don't ask, don't tell' report: Little risk to enlisting gays

By Ed O'Keefe and Craig Whitlock

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(Read The Post's full account of the report here.)

Updated 2:06 p.m. ET

The Pentagon's long-awaited report on gays in the military concludes that repealing the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law would present only a low risk to the armed forces' ability to carry out their missions and that 70 percent of service members believe it would have little or no effect on their units.

The conclusions published in Tuesday's report give a boost to President Obama and Congressional Democrats seeking to eliminate the ban before the end of the year and undercut the arguments of social conservatives and lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who believe ending the law would harm the military as it conducts two wars.

"The risk of repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell to overall military effectiveness is low," said the report's co-authors, Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham. While ending the ban would likely bring about "limited and isolated disruption" to unit cohesion and retention, "we do not believe this disruption will be widespread or long-lasting," they said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who requested the report, echoed their sentiments: "This can be done, and should be done, without posing a serious risk to military readiness."

"Now that we have completed this review, I strongly urge the Senate to pass this legislation and send it to the president for signature before the end of this year," Gates said. "I believe this is a matter of some urgency because, as we have seen this past year, the federal courts are increasingly becoming involved in this issue."

According to the results of a survey sent to troops this summer and cited in the report, 69 percent of respondents said they had served with someone in their unit who they believed to be gay or lesbian. Of those who did, 92 percent stated that their unit's ability to work together was very good, good, or neither good nor poor, according to the report.

Combat units reported similar responses, with 89 percent of Army combat units and 84 percent of Marine combat units saying they had good or neutral experiences working with gays and lesbians.

At the same time, the survey found that 30 percent of those surveyed overall -- and between 40 and 60 percent of the Marine Corps -- either expressed concern or predicted a negative reaction if Congress were to repeal the law.

Those concerns are "driven by misperceptions and stereotypes about what it would mean if gay service members were allowed to be 'open' about their sexual orientation," the report's authors concluded. "Repeatedly, we heard service members express the view that 'open' homosexuality would lead to widespread and overt displays of effeminacy among men, homosexual promiscuity, harassment and unwelcome advances within units, invasions of personal privacy, and a small overall erosion of standards of conduct, unit cohesion and morality."

Such concerns are "exaggerated, and not consistent with the reported experiences of many service members," the report said.

About 115,000 of the 400,000 active duty and reserve troops who received copies of the survey responded to it, according to the report. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.

The Washington Post first reported earlier this month on many of the report's details.

With Tuesday's findings in hand, advocates for ending the ban are planning intense lobbying efforts to ensure Congress passes a defense policy bill that includes language ending the ban before the lame-duck session concludes. The bill's fate remains uncertain despite assurances by Senate Democrats that they will reconsider the measure this month.

Passage rests largely on securing support from about 10 moderate senators of both parties who are waiting to read the report before deciding how to vote. Already Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have said they will vote to end the ban if Democrats permit a fair debate. Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), John Ensign (R-Nev.), James Webb (D-Va.) and others could also join repeal efforts after reading the report, according to Congressional aides and other officials familiar with deliberations on the matter.

Undecided senators will have a chance to hear Thursday from Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Johnson and Ham when they testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Separate hearings on Friday with other top military leaders could lay bare potential schisms among the top brass. The panel's ranking member, McCain, is a chief critic of the report and is expected to draw out the personal views of commanders.

Regardless of McCain's efforts, "This report is going to be perhaps the most effective lobbying tool that repeal advocates will have over the next two weeks in the Senate," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group pushing to end the ban. "We recognize that there will be some initial resistance from some of the chiefs, but at the end of the day, they have all said that if Congress acts, they will salute and implement this change."

If McCain successfully lifts language ending the ban from the defense bill, "we'll be looking for a backup vehicle that is moving in the lame-duck," Sarvis said.

But even if the bill clears the Senate, House lawmakers would have to vote again on a bill they passed in May.

Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.), ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, called for his panel to hold similar hearings with top military leaders. His colleague, Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), called Democratic efforts to pass the bill this month "highly irresponsible."

Scheduling conflicts prohibit the committee from holding hearings, according to a spokeswoman for the committee's chairman, Ike Skelton (D-Mo.).

The report's release caps nine months of research by Johnson, Ham and a 66-member team that met with more than 40 groups representing gay and lesbian troops, gay veterans, military spouses and the same-sex partners of closeted gay troops. It includes responses to surveys sent this summer to troops and military spouses and the thoughts of troops and spouses who sent e-mails or participated in town hall meetings at military bases.

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READ: Report of the Comprehensive Review of the Issues Associated with a Repeal of

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