Abstract

SEARCH AND DESTROY

The U.S. Defense Department's (DoD) own discharge figures support contention that women are being disproportionately targeted by the policy. Women accounted for 31 percent of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell discharges in 1999, even though they are only 14 percent of the uniformed services. The numbers are most striking in the Army, where women are only 15 percent of the force but 35 percent of the gay discharges; in the Air Force, where they are 18 percent, compared with 37 percent of discharges; and in the U.S. Marines, where women are 6 percent of the U.S. Corps but account for 21 percent of those discharged. That's certainly the impression that the Administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton's policy has left with many military commanders and their subordinates. Not until March 1997 did the DoD get around to issuing "Guidelines for Investigating Threats Against Service Members Based on Alleged Homosexuality," by Under Secretary of Defense Edwin Dorn, designed to implement the 1993 Don't Harass, Don't Pursue policy.