BattlelandNational Security
The Pentagon has concluded, based on a nearly year-long study and a survey of troops, that jettisoning the policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in uniform isn’t a big deal. Seventy percent of those polled said junking the 17-year old ban would be positive, neutral or of no consequence. We’ll have a broader look at …
BattlelandNational Security
President Obama’s fight to let openly gay men and women serve in the U.S. military enters its political endgame this week. The Pentagon will release its report on Tuesday saying most troops don’t care, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, will tell the Senate Armed Services Committee on …
BattlelandNational Security
If it’s Friday, it’s time for another dispatch from the high court on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Last Friday, a pro-gay Republican group seeking to overturn the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the U.S. military asked the Supreme Court to bar enforcement of the 17-year old law while the Justice Department appeals a federal …
BattlelandNational Security
The Washington Post reports this morning that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and letting openly gay men and women serve in uniform would have minimal impact on the nation’s fighting forces, according to a Pentagon group investigating the matter.
BattlelandNational Security
The pro-gay Republican group seeking to overturn the Pentagon’s ban on gay men and women serving openly in the U.S. military has asked the Supreme Court to sweep aside an appellate court’s decision keeping the policy in place while the lower court considers the case. Depending on where you march, there’s both good and bad news …
BattlelandNational Security
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – regarded as one of the most liberal in the land – decided Monday that the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in the military stays in place, at least for now.
A 2-1 ruling extends a stay preserving the ban as the Justice Department …
BattlelandNational Security
It’s always enlightening to dive into the military’s historical archives, because armies have been doing the same things for hundreds of years. While the troops in charge today might think they’re blazing a new trail, chances are good soldiers a generation or two earlier traveled the same path, now overgrown with the passage of …
BattlelandNational Security
As expected, the Obama Administration has gone to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to appeal a lower court’s ruling that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is unconstitutional and ordering the government to stop its enforcement. Federal District Court Judge Virginia Phillips made her ruling final Tuesday.
The Administration says:
The
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BattlelandNational Security
After President Obama, 535 members of Congress, and 1.4 million people in the military wrestled unsuccessfully with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for what seems like eons, who is this judge who single-handedly has wounded, perhaps mortally, the 17-year old policy that bars openly gay men and women from serving in uniform?
Virginia …
BattlelandNational Security
The Pentagon’s decision, announced this afternoon, that it is now permitting openly gay men and women to enlist is just the first bump in what could be a long road. The second bump could be — as the Pentagon is already warning — that their service is no longer needed.
That could happen in the days to come if a higher court rules …
BattlelandNational Security
The federal judge who ruled the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy unconstitutional last month — and then ordered the military to stop enforcing it last week — gets a third bite of the apple today when she is slated to rule on the Pentagon’s request to halt her injunction until an appeal can be heard. The betting inside the …
BattlelandNational Security
For the first time in 17 years, no one is going to be booted from the U.S. military for being gay, at least for now. At least while the Obama Administration’s appeal seeking relief from such action wends its way through the courts.
BattlelandNational Security
The federal judge who ruled the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy unconstitutional last month ordered the U.S. military to stop kicking openly gay men and women out of uniform Tuesday.
Defendants United States of America and the Secretary of Defense immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge,
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