How To Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell

By GottaLaff

Via an e-mail from Think Progress:

Korb, Duggan, and Conley have laid out a five-step solution to repealing DADT that starts with the Obama administration setting the agenda:

1) Sign an Executive Order banning further military separations based on DADT and send a legislative proposal on DADT repeal to Congress;

2) Form a presidential panel on how to implement the repeal;

3) Repeal DADT in Congress and change the Uniformed Code of Military Justice;

4) Change other necessary military guidelines to conform to the new policy; and

5) Follow-up to ensure that the armed forces implement the policy changes.

The CAP report says that "careful examination of the laws outlining the president's powers as commander in chief show that the executive branch has the authority to suspend homosexual conduct discharges without legislative action." This provision, commonly known as a "stop loss" order, grants the president authority to suspend the release of military members during any period of national emergency in which members of a reserve unit are serving on active duty.

But because Congress originally passed the ban, an executive suspension will have to be followed up with legislative action that reverses DADT. CAP also recommends forming a DADT advisory panel modeled after the Gates Commission, which was established by President Nixon in 1969 and outlined a plan for transitioning the military to an all-volunteer structure.

The commission's charge should be to consider "how" to end DADT, not "whether" to make the change.