Repeal of Law and Policies Governing Service by Openly Gay and Lesbian Service Members
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i [H.A.S.C. No. 112–41] REPEAL OF LAW AND POLICIES GOVERNING SERVICE BY OPENLY GAY AND LESBIAN SERVICE MEMBERS COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION HEARING HELD APRIL 7, 2011 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 65–812 WASHINGTON : 2011 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, http://bookstore.gpo.gov. For more information, contact the GPO Customer Contact Center, U.S. Government Printing Office. Phone 202–512–1800, or 866–512–1800 (toll-free). E-mail, [email protected]. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS HOWARD P. ‘‘BUCK’’ MCKEON, California, Chairman ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland ADAM SMITH, Washington MAC THORNBERRY, Texas SILVESTRE REYES, Texas WALTER B. JONES, North Carolina LORETTA SANCHEZ, California W. TODD AKIN, Missouri MIKE MCINTYRE, North Carolina J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania JEFF MILLER, Florida ROBERT ANDREWS, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina SUSAN A. DAVIS, California FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island MICHAEL TURNER, Ohio RICK LARSEN, Washington JOHN KLINE, Minnesota JIM COOPER, Tennessee MIKE ROGERS, Alabama MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO, Guam TRENT FRANKS, Arizona JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania DAVE LOEBSACK, Iowa K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado NIKI TSONGAS, Massachusetts ROB WITTMAN, Virginia CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine DUNCAN HUNTER, California LARRY KISSELL, North Carolina JOHN C. FLEMING, M.D., Louisiana MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado BILL OWENS, New York TOM ROONEY, Florida JOHN R. GARAMENDI, California TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania MARK S. CRITZ, Pennsylvania SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia TIM RYAN, Ohio CHRIS GIBSON, New York C.A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri HANK JOHNSON, Georgia JOE HECK, Nevada KATHY CASTOR, Florida BOBBY SCHILLING, Illinois BETTY SUTTON, Ohio JON RUNYAN, New Jersey COLLEEN HANABUSA, Hawaii AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas STEVEN PALAZZO, Mississippi ALLEN B. WEST, Florida MARTHA ROBY, Alabama MO BROOKS, Alabama TODD YOUNG, Indiana ROBERT L. SIMMONS II, Staff Director MICHAEL HIGGINS, Professional Staff Member DEBRA WADA, Professional Staff Member JAMES WEISS, Staff Assistant (II) C O N T E N T S CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF HEARINGS 2011 Page HEARING: Thursday, April 7, 2011, Repeal of Law and Policies Governing Service by Openly Gay and Lesbian Service Members ....................................................... 1 APPENDIX: Thursday, April 7, 2011 .......................................................................................... 37 THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2011 REPEAL OF LAW AND POLICIES GOVERNING SERVICE BY OPENLY GAY AND LESBIAN SERVICE MEMBERS STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS McKeon, Hon. Howard P. ‘‘Buck,’’ a Representative from California, Chair- man, Committee on Armed Services .................................................................. 1 Smith, Hon. Adam, a Representative from Washington, Ranking Member, Committee on Armed Services ............................................................................ 2 WITNESSES Amos, Gen. James F., USMC, Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps ....................... 6 Chiarelli, GEN Peter W., USA, Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army ........................... 4 Roughead, ADM Gary, USN, Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy .................. 5 Schwartz, Gen. Norton A., USAF, Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force ........................ 8 APPENDIX PREPARED STATEMENTS: Amos, Gen. James F. ........................................................................................ 47 McKeon, Hon. Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ .................................................................... 41 Roughead, ADM Gary ...................................................................................... 43 Schwartz, Gen. Norton A. ................................................................................ 51 Smith, Hon. Adam ............................................................................................ 42 DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD: Hon. Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon’s Letter Dated April 4, 2011, with Ques- tions for and Responses by GEN George W. Casey, Jr., USA, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army ........................................................................................ 57 WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING THE HEARING: Mr. Palazzo ....................................................................................................... 63 QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS POST HEARING: Mr. McKeon ....................................................................................................... 67 Mr. Wilson ......................................................................................................... 67 (III) REPEAL OF LAW AND POLICIES GOVERNING SERVICE BY OPENLY GAY AND LESBIAN SERVICE MEMBERS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, Washington, DC, Thursday, April 7, 2011. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 1:00 p.m. in room 2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon (chairman of the committee) presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. HOWARD P. ‘‘BUCK’’ MCKEON, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA, CHAIRMAN, COM- MITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. We are, I think, going to have votes in about 20 minutes. So we will try to get through as much as we can before we have to break before that. Today, the committee will receive a status report on the process for repealing the law and changing the policies governing the serv- ice of openly gay and lesbian service members. This past fall, I was troubled by the process employed to set the stage for repeal of the law known as ‘‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’’ Following the December release of the Department of Defense re- port on the issues associated with repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, there was none of the in-depth analysis that is so essential to sound decisionmaking here in the House of Representatives. As a result of the rush to judgment that bypassed this committee, Con- gress was denied the opportunity to ask questions and identify weaknesses in the repeal implementation plan. Now we are con- fronted by an implementation process that is moving quickly to completion and the education and training phase. Our primary interest today is to ensure that the senior leaders of each Service have the opportunity to communicate their current views about the implementation of repeal. Several of the Service chiefs have expressed reservations about the timing and potential impacts of repeal during a hearing before the Senate Armed Serv- ices Committee, and we want to understand if our military leaders remain concerned about the prospect of full repeal of the law. For example, General Casey, Chief of Staff of the Army, indi- cated that the repeal was a major cultural and policy change in the middle of a war that would add stress and complications for combat units. He stated that he felt implementation would be more dif- ficult than what the Pentagon survey would suggest. General Schwartz, Chief of the Staff of the Air Force, rec- ommended not carrying out any repeal until 2012 because of the strain of the high operations tempo on our forces. He stated, ‘‘I do (1) 2 not agree with the study assessment that the short-term risk to military effectiveness is low.’’ General Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps, stated, ‘‘If the law is changed, successfully implementing repeal and assimilating openly homosexual marines into the tightly woven fabric of our combat units has strong potential for disruption at the small unit level, as it will no doubt divert leadership attention away from an almost singular focus on preparing units for combat.’’ Those comments were made a couple of months ago at the Sen- ate hearing. The one outcome that must be avoided is any course of action that would put the combat readiness of our military forces at risk. Our witnesses today are the four leaders of our Armed Forces: General Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff, United States Army; Admiral Gary Roughead, USN [United States Navy], Chief of Naval Operations; General James Amos, Commandant, U.S. Ma- rine Corps; General Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force. General Chiarelli, we thank you for standing in for General Casey today and ask you to please extend our heartfelt condolences from all the members of the committee and the staff of the Armed Services Committee to General Casey and his family on the passing of his grandson, Jackson Ryan Casey. Admiral Roughead, you are moving closer to departure from your current position and may not have the opportunity—some would probably not call it an opportunity—to testify before this committee again. I want to express the collective thanks of all the members of the committee for your 38 years of service and best wishes for the future. Ranking Member Smith. [The prepared statement of Mr. McKeon can be found in the Ap- pendix on page 41.] STATEMENT OF HON. ADAM SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM WASHINGTON, RANKING MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I join you in welcoming our witnesses and passing along my con- dolences to General Casey. I welcome General Chiarelli, General Amos, General Schwartz, Admiral Roughead. Thank you for being here, and thank you for your incredible service to our country. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was put into place almost 18 years ago. Since