In a move to help expedite the time-crunched process in which the lame duck session must move DADT repeal legislation to its ultimate vote, the Pentagon has said it will release its report one day early, the Washington Post reports:
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has ordered the report to be released Nov. 30, one day earlier than planned, "to support Congress's wish to consider repeal before they adjourn," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Sunday.
The Senate is slated to vote again on a defense policy bill that includes language that would repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy after the Thanksgiving recess. The measure did not advance in September. Several senators asked Gates last week to release the report early so the Senate Armed Services Committee could hold hearings on it before the full Senate votes. Several moderate senators have said they will not decide how to vote until they read the report.
Gates "has instructed his staff, without cutting any corners, to have everything ready a day sooner because he wants to ensure members of the Armed Services Committee are able to read and consider the complex, lengthy report before holding hearings with its authors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Morrell said in a statement.
Those who have seen the report says its results reveal that most troops will have no problem serving openly.
Over the weekend, Joint Chiefs Chair Mike Mullen made the rounds on Sunday talk shows and asserted that Marine Commandant James Amos, who has expressed opposition to the repeal in recent weeks, would have no choice but to follow the directive of the military with regard to DADT, a measure, Mullen said "belies us an institution."