WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tapped his chief legal adviser and a four-star Army general to lead a landmark study on how the military would lift its ban on openly gay service members.
Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson and Gen. Carter Ham, who leads Army forces in Europe, will conduct the yearlong assessment.
Gates made the announcement in an appearance Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. It marks a measured step toward President Barack Obama's goal of eliminating the military's policy against gays, which is based on a 1993 law.
Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, who is the military's top uniformed officer, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday he is deeply troubled by a policy that forces people to "lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens."
Mullen said he knows many will disagree about abandoning the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and said there are practical obstacles to lifting the 1993 ban. But he said he thinks the military can handle it.
Mullen noted that he and fellow high-ranking officers must still participate in the wide-ranging review about how and whether to change the policy, but then added his personal note.
Mullen said he was endorsing a change in policy, "speaking for myself, and myself only."
Sen. John McCain is bristling at the decision to launch the year-long study, saying he is "deeply disappointed" and calling the assessment "clearly biased" because it presumes the law should be changed.
He also said the current policy is not ideal but that it has been effective.
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), a former Navy secretary, said, ''It also must involve the full, open input and engagement of those serving in uniform today, including our military leadership, our active duty service members in all services and at all levels, and their family members."
