DADT Lite is a Terrible Idea

I wrote recently that President Obama should at least consider the possibility of enforcing DADT on a case by case basis, giving commanders some flexibility. I was wrong. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is now exploring the same ground. While it is a good sign that Gates is working towards a solution,  I think that this is the wrong way to go about it.

DADT is based on the myth that gays serving openly are a detriment to morale and unit cohesiveness. Recent research indicates that is simply not the case. Anecdotally, both Lt. Choi and Lt. Col. Fehrenbach have broad support from the troops under their commands, their peers and their commanders. The problem is the mythology. The solution is to make a fact-based decision.

Gates said he is looking at ways to make the policy "more humane," including letting people serve who may have been outed due to vengeance or a jilted lover. So how they are outed somehow affects the individual's suitability?

Capt. John Kirby, and aide to Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today that the chairman "supports the idea of a less draconian way of enforcing the policy." What does that even mean?

Selective enforcement of any law is never a good thing. A service member dismissed under relaxed rules would claim, and rightfully so, that he or she was being singled out for prosecution. On one level, Dan Choi might be more valuable as an Arabic translator than an E-2 in the motor pool. However, the military runs on the basis that every job is important and that everyone is obligated to do the best job that they can do.

At the end of the day, there is no deus ex machina. There will always be "compelling" reasons not to reverse a policy that is unfair, discriminatory and deleterious to our national security. Above all, particularly in bureaucracies, there is comfort in the status quo. Committees and studies are simply a reliable way of retarding progress. The only rational solution is for President Obama to take a bold step as Commander in Chief and stop the discharges now.