• One Year Out
    September 10, 2012

    The first academic study of the effects of repealing “don't ask, don’t tell” has found that the new policy of open service has had no overall negative impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, recruitment, retention or morale. Co-authors of the study, whose publication coincides with the anniversary of DADT repeal, include professors at the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, and U.S. Marine Corps War College.

  • How We Won: Progressive Lessons from the Repeal of 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell'
    September 10, 2011

    Huffington Post Media Group has announced that its second ebook release, due Sept. 20, will be Aaron Belkin's book on the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell": How We Won: Progressive Lessons from the Repeal of ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' How We Won argues that lessons from the repeal campaign challenge some of the left's most entrenched conventional wisdom about how to successfully set social policy.

  • Assessing the integration of gays and lesbians into the South African National Defence Force
    January 12, 2011

    This article draws together military and government documents, secondary research, press coverage and interviews with individuals with knowledge on this topic to assess the effects of open service in the South African National Defence Force. The evidence suggests that the integration of gay and lesbian personnel has not had a negative impact on recruitment and retention, morale, unit cohesion or operational effectiveness in the SANDF.

  • Military Training Can Be Accomplished Quickly
    December 22, 2010

    Using case studies of other Pentagon training efforts, this study shows that: the Pentagon can quickly train all personnel regardless of status or location (including combat zones); training is not prerequisite to a policy going into force; the repeal of DADT does not necessitate formal and elaborate training programs.

  • Interpreting Response Rate for the 2010 Department of Defense Comprehensive Review Survey
    November 29, 2010

    The 2010 Department of Defense Comprehensive Review Survey of Uniformed Duty and Reserve Service Members yielded a response rate of 28%. This report examines how this response rate compares with others and what the implications are for interpreting the data.

  • A More Perfect Military
    October 29, 2010

    Why are politicians so reluctant to question the military? Why do the President, Congress and Courts so often defer to the military's preferences in a system in which civilians are supposed to be in control? Why do people question whether federal courts have the right to change military policies, or whether the Constitution even applies to the military? Professor Diane Mazur's new book "A More Perfect Military: How the Constitution Can Make Our Military Stronger" explains why our civil-military relationships have become strained and dysfunctional in the all-volunteer era. It's because civilians-primarily the Courts, but also Congress and the President-have broken the bond the military once had with the Constitution. Professor Mazur is Legal Co-Director of the Palm Center.

  • Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Detailing the Cost
    August 16, 2010

    Read the full study here.

  • Presence of Openly Gay Soldiers in IDF Does Not Undermine Unit Social Cohesion
    June 6, 2010

    Highlights: This study examines the correlation between the presence of gay and lesbian soldiers in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and measures of unit social cohesion, following a survey of 417 combat and non-combat male soldiers conducted in 2000, seven years after IDF restrictions on gay personnel were terminated.  The argument that openly gay soldiers could undermine unit cohesion rests on a particular understanding of cohesion as a social factor based on interpersonal emotions between unit members.

  • Memo for the Pentagon Working Group
    April 1, 2010
    The Pentagon Working Group (PWG) has recognized the dilemma of obtaining candid information from military members about “don’t ask, don’t tell” when communication of that information could lead to investigation and separation under the policy. If service members reveal they are gay during the review process, they have made a statement concerning their sexual orientation that is prohibited by 10 U.S.C. § 654 (b)(2).
  • What Does the Empirical Research Say about the Impact of Openly Gay Service on the Military?
    March 3, 2010
    Research on openly gay service is extensive, and includes over half a century of evidence gathered by independent researchers and the U.S. military itself, as well as the study of the experience of foreign militaries. The U.S. military’s own researchers have consistently found that openly gay service does not undermine cohesion, and the military has repeatedly sought to condemn or suppress these conclusions when they emerged. Yet no research has ever shown that open homosexuality impairs military readiness.