When General Mundy Speaks, Everyone Should Listen

(Washington, D.C.): President Clinton’s willingness to subordinate national
security policy to
expedient political considerations has once again been in evidence as a result of his response to
criticisms by his wife and Vice President Gore about the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
With his statement to the effect that this policy is not working and needs to be reconsidered, he
has opened anew one of the most painful and harmful of his many self-inflicted wounds — quite
likely exacerbating the damage done by his original effort to foist open homosexuality on the
Nation’s armed forces without regard for the impact that action would have on their morale and
“good order and discipline.”

Fortunately, one of the most respected military officers of the current era has stepped forward
to
speak for virtually all of those who have served their country with distinction, as well as for those
who do so today. In an op.ed. article in the 17 December editions of the New York
Times, former
Marine Corps Commandant Carl Mundy (USMC Ret.) recalled his own involvement in the
difficult task of forging the “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the first place — and warned about the
serious additional harm to which an effort to revisit that policy would likely subject America’s
troops and their commanders. The Center for Security Policy is proud to have Gen. Mundy as a
founding member of its distinguished Military Committee and commends his essay to all those
concerned with the conduct of security policy.

Playing Politics at the Military’s Expense

By Carl E. Mundy

New York Times, 17 December 1999

Once again, the question of homosexuals in the military has come into the public view,
resulting
in President Clinton’s assertion that the so-called “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is flawed. His
statement to that effect came on the heels of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent campaign speech,
in which she asserted that the policy does not work and proposed that gays be allowed to serve
openly. Other candidates for office, including Senator Bill Bradley and Vice President Al Gore,
have taken the same position.

Shades of 1993. This question was last politicized and widely debated when President
Clinton
attempted to implement a campaign promise to end the ban on avowed homosexuals serving in
the armed forces.

Since the moment the issue was resolved with the establishment of the “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy, it has received only occasional notice in the public eye. What the electorate at large might
not realize, however, is that the policy has been at work in our armed forces, with military
commanders striving to comply with both the spirit and the intent of the order.

I served as commandant of the Marine Corps when this matter was initially raised as an
issue,
and I participated in crafting the “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule. Having monitored its
implementation during my remaining years of active service, and watching it in the four years
since, I feel compelled to comment. I strongly disagree with claims that the policy does not work
and that it has been misused by the military to conduct so-called “witch hunts” for the purpose of
rooting out homosexuals. Such claims reflect a poor understanding of the facts.

The policy euphemistically dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell” was designed as a compromise to
accommodate President Clinton’s direction that gays and lesbians be able to serve in the armed
forces under a plan that meets the special requirements of military service.

The policy has been remarkably successful in maintaining that balance, for the goal was
quite
challenging because — like it or not — it is a simple fact that the presence of avowed homosexuals
in a military organization is fundamentally incompatible with good order and discipline.

First, because the young Americans who join our military services bring with them the
values of
our society, and that society has not, to date, fully recognized the social acceptability of the
homosexual lifestyle. Witness, for example, the failure of gay rights groups to garner sufficient
support in state legislatures for the enactment of laws permitting same-sex marriages. When we
recruit from a society whose people express in this way that gays and lesbians are beyond the
mainstream of American culture, why should we expect our servicemen and servicewomen to
believe differently?

Second, the military is unlike most other institutions. Its purpose is not to turn a profit, like a
business, nor to provide an environment for individuality or self-expression like a university. The
military exists to protect the nation by fighting and winning wars. Victory in combat requires far
more technical skill; it calls for a unique combination of cohesion, selflessness and teamwork.

Conduct that is widely rejected by a majority of Americans can undermine the trust that is
essential to creating and maintaining the sense of unity that is critical to the success of a military
organization operating under the very different and difficult demands of combat. It would be
unconscionable to tolerate increased risk to our men and women in uniform simply for the sake
of satisfying the desires of one special interest group.

Let me address claims that military commanders have twisted the “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy
into an instrument for anti-gay activities. There is a continuing drumbeat by activists alleging
injustice and violation of the policy on the part of military officers.

Regrettably, President Clinton recently expressed this view. I hope that as commander in
chief,
he is basing judgment in this critical issue on factual advice from his uniformed military
advisers, and not exclusively on inexperienced interpretations and advice from those with a
political agenda, or on speculative accounts and opinions in the press.

Consider the facts. Over the past five years, the Marine Corps, to cite one example, has
effected
387 discharges under the policy. Of this number, 289 — 75 percent of the total — were based
upon voluntary admission of homosexuality. These individuals were neither sought out nor
pursued. They openly purported themselves to be homosexuals, in contravention of the policy’s
proscription against acknowledging homosexual persuasion.

Further, 191 discharges, or 49 percent of the total, occurred within the first six months of
service,
a very demanding period during which it is not uncommon for those who are not equal to the
challenge of military life to seek opportunities for release from the service. A claim to be
homosexual, whether factual or not, provides such an opportunity.

A final note. In 1993, I received a great number of communications from a broad spectrum of
Americans. Parents wrote to say that if the policy of open homosexuality were put into effect,
they wanted their sons and daughters discharged. The mother of a recruit awaiting orders to
active duty sent me her son’s enlistment contract to be torn up because “he’s not going.”

Former Marines wrote in numbers to demand that I resign in protest if open homosexuals
were
allowed to serve. The decorated, upward-bound marine officer who stopped an Israeli tank with
his cocked .45 pistol during the tense days of the 1980’s in Lebanon resigned his commission in
protest over Mr. Clinton’s stance. Three general officers and several senior noncommissioned
officers communicated their gut-wrenching decision to step down should an unqualified policy
be put in place.

Noting that the armed services today are under extreme pressures to find adequate numbers
of
recruits, if the lessons of 1993 are instructive, an aggressive change in policy could have
impactive consequences on their ability to maintain adequate strength.

There are many who believed in 1993, and do today, that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is already a
compromise that strains to achieve its goal of mutual compatibility where experience and reason
dictate that such compatibility cannot exist. My judgment is that the cat can’t be walked back,
and that the policy is an acceptable compromise that’s working acceptably. It should not be
tampered with to meet a political agenda.

Carl E. Mundy served as the commandant of the Marine Corps from 1991 to
1995.