Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) last week led a group of Senators introducing legislation to repeal the 1993 “Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell” law under the title. In a release, Lieberman said that with a volunteer military, “if Americans want to serve, they ought to have the right to be considered for that service regardless of characteristics such as race, gender, or sexual orientation.” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the original arguments were not “convincing when it took effect in 1993, and they are less so now.” Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) quoted conservative champion Barry Goldwater who once said, “You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight.” Udall called it an “issue of military effectiveness” because with such prolonged and frequent combat deployments being the norm, “we need all the qualified service members we have to fight.”
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he'd be “comfortable’ with the service taking over the air base defense mission from the Army, provided it was given the resources and manpower to do so. The Army has been slow to devote the resources and attention needed to matching the Air Force’s…