Official Pentagon journal debunks "unit cohesion" as basis for DADT

An official Pentagon journal has published a report calling for the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.  The article, entitled, “The Efficacy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” was written by Col. Om Prakash, and appears in the new issue of Joint Forces Quarterly, a top military journal published for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  According to the article, “there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly.” Based on this research, it concludes that the Obama administration should not “reexamine the issue" but instead should "examine how to implement the repeal of the ban.”

Col. Prakash’s study was selected as the first-place winner of the Secretary of Defense National Security Essay competition, which is sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation.  He wrote it while studying at the National Defense University, early in 2009.  Currently he serves in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he is Director of Operations for Industrial Policy.

The Palm Center at UC-Santa Barbara has more.

-SS