Ask the Expert - Lawrence J. Korb on "Don't Ask Don't Tell"

Why should Congress and the President repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell?"

They should repeal it for two reasons. One, it will enhance military readiness. And, number two, it's the right thing to do to end discrimination against a certain group of people for no good reason.

How would eliminating the policy now be different from Clinton's attempt in 1993?

It would be different because things have changed dramatically in the last 16 years. The majority of people in the military are comfortable with it, the majority of the American people are comfortable with it, and we much more data. Both the British and Canadians, who have militaries like ours, who had not changed back in 1993, have subsequently done it and found no problems at all in integrating them into the force.

What steps can the White House take to ensure a successful repeal?

I think that the White House can stop the policy of putting people out because they are discovered to be gay--in other words, use their stop-loss authority. Then the next things they ought to do is introduce legislation to repeal the law enacted back in 1993 as well as change the uniform code of military justice. Those are the things I think they need to do, and as soon as the law is passed then they have to change all the various military regulations, and then finally get the Equal Opportunity Management Institute to incorporate dealing with people who are openly gay in their curriculum.