Former Joint Chiefs Of Staff Chair To Headline DADT Repeal Celebration

It's a new world.

Defense Sec. Robert Gates Outlines Three Steps To Full DADT Implemenation

Today Secretary of Defense Robert Gates outlined the three steps necessary for the full implementation of the repeal of DADT, with Admiral Mike Mullen cautioning soldiers, "Now is not, from my perspective, the time to come out."

DADT Hearings Recap

Wonk Room's Igor Volsky ticks off the ways that GOP objections have been dispatched so far today.Read more Volsky's analysis. Here's his video recap.

LIVE VIDEO: Senate DADT Debate

Defense Secretary Gate and Admiral Mike Mullen appear today before the Senate Armed Services Committee. I'll bump this video player to the top of the blog a few times as the hearings go on today.

UPDATE: The hearing has concluded for today.

Quote Of The Day - Admiral Mike Mullen

"The law needs to change. Fundamentally, it’s an issue of our values. It’s very critical for us as an institution, and I’m hard-pressed not to support policy and a law that forces individuals to come in and lie everyday. I have every expectation that not only we will do this, but we will lead in a way [so] it gets done. That doesn’t mean we won’t have challenges. I want to understand what the possibilities are … what it’s going take to implement this and, in that regard, address the leadership challenges and implementation with expectations that at the small-unit level, not exclusively, it will be led and led well. I have a lot of faith in you that that’s doable." - Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, speaking to soldiers yesterday at Fort Bragg.

Perhaps referencing the ridiculous claim by the Family Research Council that openly gay soldiers will lead to rampant male rape, one soldier asked Mullen if repealing DADT wouldn't lead to increases cases of sexual harassment. Mullen responded: "Certainly any change in the laws is not an excuse for anything like that to ever happen. We are a disciplined force. We have standards. Maintaining those standards, sustaining that discipline is our job, no matter what happens."

(Tipped by JMG reader Matt)

Joint Chiefs Chair Mike Mullen: DADT Deal Lets Us Say IF The Repeal Will Happen

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen says that the proposed DADT compromise deal allows the military to decide whether the repeal will take place at all, regardless of how Congress votes.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday that he’s comfortable with proposed legislation that seeks to repeal the law that bans gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military because it includes “very clear language” that gives senior leaders the final say in whether it’s implemented. The proposed amendment, which Congress could put to a vote as soon as this week, wouldn’t immediately go into effect if passed, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told about 500 servicemembers at a town hall session here. Implementation wouldn’t take place until after a Defense Department study assessing its impact is completed, the chairman explained, and military and defense leaders get to weigh in on the findings. The review, expected to be completed by December, is progressing well, the chairman said, “but by no means is it over.” Mullen said he’s particularly interested in determining how the law’s repeal would affect “readiness, unit cohesion and our ability to do our mission.” That, he said, requires input from the people directly affected.

Yesterday Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) threw his support behind the compromise deal, but only after he secured an agreement that would delay the repeal for 60 days after a Congressional vote, during which time the president and the Pentagon will review the plan.

It's looking less and less like this will happen at all this year.

DADT Hearings Continue In Senate

Click over for a live video stream of today's DADT hearings with the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Senate, where outed gay members of the military are testifying.

John McCain: There Is Strong Opposition To DADT Among Military Leaders

On Meet The Press today, Sen. John McCain was called out for his recent backtracking on DADT, which he once said should be repealed if military leaders agreed, as we saw Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen do recently. McCain: "Oh, but Mullen was speaking personally."

Admiral Mike Mullen: Little Resistance To DADT Repeal Among Troops

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen says he is finding little resistance among the troops to the idea of repealing DADT.

Mullen was nearing the end of a 25-minute question-and-answer session with troops serving here when he raised a topic of his own: "No one's asked me about 'don't ask, don't tell,' " he said. As it turned out, none of the two dozen or so men or women who met with Mullen at Marine House in the Jordanian capital Tuesday had any questions on the 17-year-old policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military - or Mullen's public advocacy of its repeal. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Darryl E. Robinson, who's the operations coordinator for defense attache's office at the U.S. Embassy here, explained why after the session. "The U.S. military was always at the forefront of social change," he said. "We didn't wait for laws to change." Some Republicans in Congress have expressed outrage at repealing the ban in wartime and the Pentagon has embarked on a yearlong study on what impact the repeal might have. At a Senate hearing earlier this month, Sen. John McCain R-Ariz., urged Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to "keep the impact it will have on our forces firmly in mind." Yet those gathered at Marine House made it clear they've already accepted the idea of gays and lesbians serving among them.

Next week the head of each branch of the armed services will testify before Congress about the repeal attempt. The Commandant of the Marine Corps has said that he is strongly opposed, the Army Chief of Staff opposes the repeal taking place during wartime.

Tweet Of The Day - Admiral Mike Mullen