‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ hearing set for next week

Earlier this week, the Defense Department announced that it will release the long-awaited report on the impact of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” a day early, on Nov. 30. Today we learned that following the release of the report, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a two-day hearing on Dec. 2 and 3.

The witnesses for Dec. 2 are set and we can expect to hear from Defense Secretary Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen in addition to the co-chairs of the Pentagon working group: Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s general counsel, and Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe.

Witnesses for Dec. 3 will include Vice-Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright and military service chiefs: Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey; Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead; Marine Corps Gen. James Amos; and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz.

You can follow the Task Force on twitter for updates during the hearing, and please remember to keep up the pressure on your senators by calling their offices and urging them to support ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and a vote on its repeal before the end of the lame duck session.