Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on
Thursday that repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” has had no impact
on morale, readiness or unit cohesion, Reuters reported.
The military ended the policy which for
18 years banned gay and bisexual troops from serving openly last
September.
President Barack Obama championed
scrapping the policy and has touted the accomplishment since.
Supporters of keeping ban warned that
repealing it in wartime threatened to hurt cohesion of troops or
undermine morale.
“It's not impacting morale. It's not
impacting on unit cohesion. It is not impacting on readiness,”
Panetta said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee,
referring to the findings of an internal report he received on
Wednesday.
Army General Martin Dempsey, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added: “I have not found any
negative effects on good order or discipline.”
Dempsey and Panetta credited the
military's gradual implementation and troop training on repeal for
the lack of negative fallout.
“What were we afraid of is we didn't
know,” Dempsey told Congress. “And I think that the way we were
given a year to make this assessment to educate ourselves to
collaborate, to build the sense of trust … I think it worked out
well.”