Meehan Releases New GAO Report on Don't Ask, Don't Tell:
Hundreds of Millions Spent on Discharging Gay Soldiers,
Hundreds of Critical Skilled Soldiers Purged
February 24, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Last year, Congressman Marty Meehan (D-MA) requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study the costs of the systematic discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy (DADT) enacted in 1993. Today, we have the results: DADT has cost U.S. taxpayers over $200 million and brought about the discharge of hundreds of servicemembers with critical occupations and important foreign language skills.
Meehan, now a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, has fought DADT for 12 years. His first piece of legislation as a member of Congress was a challenge to the original DADT law in 1993.
Meehan said: "It is more apparent than ever before that, as we conduct a Global War on Terror and face tremendous personnel shortages, that the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law is undermining our military readiness."
"The conventional justification for Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been that allowing gays to serve undermines miltary readiness. Now we have the numbers to prove that the policy itself is undermining our military readiness.
"By discharging competent servicemembers at a time when our troops are already stretched thin, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy incurs hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs and purges highly skilled, critical personnel from the service. It is as senseless and counterproductive as it is un-American. The policy of the United States should be to fight the war on terror, not to advance the agenda of discrimination."
LINK TO GAO REPORT:
http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-05-299SUMMARY OF GAO REPORT:
A. GAO Finds at Least $200 Million In Costs, Additional Costs Hidden
1. Recruiting Costs To Replace Soldiers Discharged Under DADT Cost $95 Million. “Over the 10-year period, it could have cost DOD about $95 million in constant fiscal year 2004 dollars to recruit replacements for servicemembers separated under the policy."
2. Training Costs To Replace Soldiers Discharged Under DADT Cost $95 Million. “Also, the Navy, Air Force, and Army estimated that the cost to train replacements for separated servicemembers by occupation was approximately $48.8 million, $16.6 million, and $29.7 million, respectively."
B. GAO's Analysis Excluded Numerous Additional Costs
1. Excluded Commissioned Officer Recruiting And Training Costs Including Military Academies. “To determine the estimated financial costs associated with DOD's homosexual conduct policy, we obtained information on the estimated costs to recruit enlisted personnel from fiscal year 1994 through fiscal year 2003... DOD does not include per-capita recruiting costs associated with commissioned officers in its procurement resources report."
2. Excluded Marine Corps Training Costs. “The Marine Corps was not able to estimate occupation-related training costs."
3. Excluded Costs For Discharges By National Guard, Reserves, And Coast Guard. “This exclusion is consistent with DOD's reporting practice in this area, which reports only active duty personnel separated for homosexual conduct."
4. Excluded Investigation, Counseling, And Administrative Costs. “Other types of costs such as those related to inquiries and investigations of cases, counseling and pastoral care, separation functions, and discharge reviews are not estimable because DOD does not collect data necessary to develop such estimates."
C. Critical Soldiers Discharged For No Reason But Homosexuality
1. 757 Soldiers With "Critical Skills" Discharged. Approximately 757 servicemembers separated for homosexual conduct "held critical occupations, identified by DOD as those occupations worthy of selective reenlistment bonuses."
2. 322 Soldiers With Skills in "Important Languages" Discharged. 322 separated servicemembers had skills in "an important foreign language such as Arabic, Farsi, or Korean."
D. Volunteers To The All-Volunteer Military Turned Away
1. 9,488 Men And Women Proudly Serving Their Country Discharged. “In 1993 Congress enacted a homosexual conduct policy statute... During the 10 years following this declaration, the military services separated about 9,500 servicemembers for homosexual conduct under the statute."
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Source: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ma05_meehan/NR050224DADT.html