"Don't ask, don't tell" Undermines National Security/ has Wasted $200MM

[paineinthearse]

Developing…Based on an unreleased DoD report coming from
Rep. Meehan (D-MA5), who serves on the House Armed Services Committee.

====================================================================

Last year, Rep. Marty Meehan requested the Department of Defense to analyze its 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The report will be released next month, but two preliminary findings are

1) Discharging military personnel on the basis of sexual orientation is costing the US taxpayers >$200 million in recruiting and training replacements.

2. More significantly, the policy is detrimental to national security as many discharged are in highly trained technical positions, such as translators. This has contributed to a huge backlog of untranslated intelligence intercepts. More than 400 dismissed under the policy had critical language skills (Farsi, Persian and Korean).

So the * administration once again shows its cowardly true self. It holds that depleting the ranks of military personnal based on sexual orientation is more important that national security and tax dollar waste.

GAO-05-299, MILITARY PERSONNEL: Financial Costs and Loss of Critical Skills Due to DOD's Homosexual Conduct Policy Cannot Be Completely Estimated United States Government Accountability Office GAO Report to ...
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05299.pdf - 774.8KB - GAO Reports

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/necn/

(2/24/05 6:30 p.m.) Massachusetts Rep. Martin Meehan says he's hoping to reverse the military's 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Meehan can now use a congressional report to his advantage -- as a new study Thursday suggests the military's policy on gays is cause for the departure of hundreds of highly skilled troops...


Go to http://www.boston.com/news/politics/necn/ and scroll down.
Search: Video Clip('plV360410')

Edited: added link to GAO report.

[paineinthearse]

1. NSIAD-95-21 Security Clearances: Consideration of Sexual Orientation

Found a second GAO report which seems equally ridiculous.

NSIAD-95-21 Security Clearances: Consideration of Sexual Orientation in the Clearance Process United States General Accounting Office Report to Congressional Requesters March 1996

http://161.203.16.4/t2pbat1/153724.pdf - 4925.0KB - GAO Reports

[BradBlog]

5. Thanks Pain...

Will look into this report and perhaps cover at BRAD BLOG as time allows today. Obviously, this report needs to get more attention!

Brad
The BRAD BLOG
http://www.BradBlog.com

[paineinthearse]

6. YVW, but it's Paine...

...as in Thomas. I'm not a sadist.

[cornermouse]

2. And have they done any reports on the cost involved

in searching for and discharging gays, loss due to expenses which were accrued in training, etc.?

Thought not.

[paineinthearse]

3. Rep. Meehan's press release - Hundreds of Critical Skilled Soldiers Purged

Meehan Releases New GAO Report on Don't Ask, Don't Tell:

Hundreds of Millions Spent on Discharging Gay Soldiers,

Hundreds of Critical Skilled Soldiers Purged

February 24, 2005


WASHINGTON -- Last year, Congressman Marty Meehan (D-MA) requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study the costs of the systematic discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy (DADT) enacted in 1993. Today, we have the results: DADT has cost U.S. taxpayers over $200 million and brought about the discharge of hundreds of servicemembers with critical occupations and important foreign language skills.

Meehan, now a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, has fought DADT for 12 years. His first piece of legislation as a member of Congress was a challenge to the original DADT law in 1993.

Meehan said: "It is more apparent than ever before that, as we conduct a Global War on Terror and face tremendous personnel shortages, that the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law is undermining our military readiness."

"The conventional justification for Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been that allowing gays to serve undermines miltary readiness. Now we have the numbers to prove that the policy itself is undermining our military readiness.

"By discharging competent servicemembers at a time when our troops are already stretched thin, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy incurs hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs and purges highly skilled, critical personnel from the service. It is as senseless and counterproductive as it is un-American. The policy of the United States should be to fight the war on terror, not to advance the agenda of discrimination."

LINK TO GAO REPORT:

http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-05-299


SUMMARY OF GAO REPORT:

A. GAO Finds at Least $200 Million In Costs, Additional Costs Hidden

1. Recruiting Costs To Replace Soldiers Discharged Under DADT Cost $95 Million. “Over the 10-year period, it could have cost DOD about $95 million in constant fiscal year 2004 dollars to recruit replacements for servicemembers separated under the policy."

2. Training Costs To Replace Soldiers Discharged Under DADT Cost $95 Million. “Also, the Navy, Air Force, and Army estimated that the cost to train replacements for separated servicemembers by occupation was approximately $48.8 million, $16.6 million, and $29.7 million, respectively."

B. GAO's Analysis Excluded Numerous Additional Costs

1. Excluded Commissioned Officer Recruiting And Training Costs Including Military Academies. “To determine the estimated financial costs associated with DOD's homosexual conduct policy, we obtained information on the estimated costs to recruit enlisted personnel from fiscal year 1994 through fiscal year 2003... DOD does not include per-capita recruiting costs associated with commissioned officers in its procurement resources report."

2. Excluded Marine Corps Training Costs. “The Marine Corps was not able to estimate occupation-related training costs."

3. Excluded Costs For Discharges By National Guard, Reserves, And Coast Guard. “This exclusion is consistent with DOD's reporting practice in this area, which reports only active duty personnel separated for homosexual conduct."

4. Excluded Investigation, Counseling, And Administrative Costs. “Other types of costs such as those related to inquiries and investigations of cases, counseling and pastoral care, separation functions, and discharge reviews are not estimable because DOD does not collect data necessary to develop such estimates."

C. Critical Soldiers Discharged For No Reason But Homosexuality

1. 757 Soldiers With "Critical Skills" Discharged. Approximately 757 servicemembers separated for homosexual conduct "held critical occupations, identified by DOD as those occupations worthy of selective reenlistment bonuses."

2. 322 Soldiers With Skills in "Important Languages" Discharged. 322 separated servicemembers had skills in "an important foreign language such as Arabic, Farsi, or Korean."

D. Volunteers To The All-Volunteer Military Turned Away

1. 9,488 Men And Women Proudly Serving Their Country Discharged. “In 1993 Congress enacted a homosexual conduct policy statute... During the 10 years following this declaration, the military services separated about 9,500 servicemembers for homosexual conduct under the statute."

###

Source: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ma05_meehan/NR050224DADT.html

[Stephanie]

4. But in this case they really can blame it on Clinton

Another brilliant "triangulation" by the Clenis. Between this and media deregulation he left quite a legacy, old Bill.

[paineinthearse]

10. touche

[paineinthearse]

7. .

[PROGRESSIVE1]

8. .

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. This needs to be publicized widely. Policy also promotes blackmail

For another thread on this Boston Globe article, without the video clip and the direct link to the GAO report but with some good comments, see here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=221&topic_id=7944
Title: "Now there are numbers: Pentagon anti-gay policy forced out skilled troops"

See especially a comment about the actual experience of a gay soldier with valuable training. It will dismay you. I will now post a link to this current thread in that earlier one so that people can continue the discussion here.

Two additional points we should keep in mind:

1. This policy not only has undermined military readiness as expected and now documented in the GAO report, it directly increases probability of security breaches due to blackmail. The current Pentagon policy actually ENCOURAGES STAYING CLOSETED, and it is a thoroughly documented fact as well as common sense that it is the closeted people who are the security risk because of their vulnerability to blackmail.

2. This information needs to be part of a massive and well-planned reframing process to END the officially sanctioned persecution of gays in this country. This is a subject that truly needs serious discussion at DU. We have facts, they have hate- and fear-mongering. How can we counter them? We need psychologists, religious figures, sociologists, many other people to put together a campaign to counter the anti-gay fear that keeps getting whipped up by the demagogues. Again, I suggest reading the comments on this in the other thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=221&topic_id=7944#7947

Recommended for Greatest. The other thread was there for a while, now it's time for this one to take up the story. Let's keep it kicked.

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. Kick! This important thread needs much more attention

Come on, people, this report has major implications in a lot of areas. Think about it!

[Nothing Without Hope]

12. Why aren't people paying attention to this story?

We cannot turn our backs on this issue.

The wasted money is not as important as the undermining of national security.

But the undermining of national security is not as important as the poisoningof the the heart of the nation with the fear- and hate-mongering of the administration and their fundie allies.

Progressives CANNOT turn their backs.