Pentagon Releases DADT Study, Finds Few Risks To Ending Policy

A just-released Pentagon study on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell–covered live on all cable nets–finds overturning DADT would not cause any longterm problems for the American military.

“A strong majority (of American troops surveyed)–more than two thirds–do not object to gays and lesbians serving openly in the military,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who introduced the survey’s results alonside Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

According to the study–the largest ever conducted–looked at the impact of changing the military’s policy on openly serving gays and lesbians on “unit cohesiveness, military readiness, recruitment and retention.”

The study found 70 percent of troops surveyed believed repealing the law would have mixed, positive, or no effect, while 30 percent predicted problems. Opposition to ending DADT was strongest among all-male combat troops, including Army and Marine units.

92 percent of servicemen and women who had worked with someone they believed to be gay thought their unit’s ability to work together was either “very good, good, or not poor.”

Watch Pentagon Press Briefing below:

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