Senate Begins DADT Hearings Today, Pentagon Announces Year-Long Review

The full repeal of DADT will take years, according to the Pentagon's top brass. In fact, it will take a year just to plan on how to get started.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen also are expected to announce the creation of a group to assess how to carry out a full repeal of the decades-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which requires gay soldiers to keep their sexual orientation secret. But Gates and Mullen are also expected to tell senators that it could take years to integrate gay men and lesbians fully into the military, defense officials said. Two appointees will be named to oversee a group that will draw up plans for integrating the armed forces, according to sources familiar with the Pentagon's deliberations on the subject. The planning effort is expected to take up to a year.

Over at AmericaBlog, John Aravosis angrily wonders what happened to the plan to put the repeal into this year's defense authorization bill. "Poof, it's gone."

VIDEO: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show last night to discuss today's hearings.