Responding to charges that he flip flopped on his support for repealing DADT, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)’s office issued a statement arguing that Mike Mullen’s recent testimony does not reflect the view of the military as a whole. “One person, speaking individually, not on behalf of the Navy at all, is not going to change Senator McCain’s position” on the issue, McCain communications director Brooke Buchanan said and noted that “McCain had submitted for the record a list of thousands of former military officers who oppose lifting the ban on openly gay people serving in the military.” “Well, I hope you’ll pay attention to the views of over a thousand retired and flag general officers,” McCain said during yesterday’s hearing.

Of course, the over 1,000 “distinguished retired military leaders” who oppose repealing DADT do not accurately reflect military opinion. A PBS inquiry of the list found that “not all of those who appear on the list gave their permission to be used as signatories, and several are dead.” The majority “of the officers have not served in the military this century and never served under the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.” Officers who have overwhelmingly oppose the policy.

McCain’s insistence on submitting ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to an opinion poll — despite real world experiences and research suggesting that repealing the policy would not undermine unit cohesion — suggests that the Senator believes that we should surrender the rights of a minority to a vote before the majority. And that triggers some rather uncomfortable historic parallels.

In 1948, for instance, when President Harry Truman desegregated the military, “most civilians and military personnel opposed racial integration“:

One month before President Truman’s Executive Order, a Gallup poll showed that 63% of American adults endorsed the separation of Blacks and Whites in the military; only 26% supported integration. A 1949 survey of white Army personnel revealed that 32% completely opposed racial integration in any form, and 61% opposed integration if it meant that Whites and Blacks would share sleeping quarters and mess halls. However, 68% of white soldiers were willing to have Blacks and Whites work together, provided they didn’t share barracks or mess facilities.

A 1993 RAND study on integrating gay service members into the military noted, “[m]any white Americans (especially Southerners) responded with visceral revulsion to the idea of close physical contact with blacks. Many also perceived racial integration as a profound affront to their sense of social order.”

Since 1948 and 1993, attitudes and circumstances have changed. Most Americans have forgotten that the armed forces were ever racially segregated and many senior military officers — including Collin Powell — support allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Surveys also suggest that an overwhelming majority of military members “are comfortable with lesbians and gays.”

And while their support may ease the integration process, it’s not a strong reason for repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ — a policy that was as unjust and counterproductive in 1993 (when many supported it) as it is today. That decision should be rooted in this country’s principles and moral obligations. As Mullen argued in yesterday’s hearing, “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.” “For me, it comes down to integrity – theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”

During yesterday’s DADT hearing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that he will ask the Defense Department for recommendations in the next 45 days on how the law could be more humanely implemented and announced the formation of a “high level working group” to “immediately begin a review of the issues associated with properly implementing a repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.” The “working group” would “examine all aspects of this question and produce its finding and recommendations in the form of an implementation plan by the end of this calender year“:

1. The working group will reach out to the force to “understand their views and attitudes about the impacts of repeal.”

2. “Undertake a thorough examination of all the changes to the departments’ regulations and policies that have to be made. These include potential revisions to policies on benefits, base housing, fraternization and misconduct, separations and discharges, and many others.”

3. “Examine the potential impacts of a change in the law on military effectiveness, including how a change might affect unit cohesion, recruiting and retention, and other issues crucial to the performance of the force.”

While several studies have found that repealing the law would not undermine military effectiveness, the military has never performed a comprehensive review of the nuts and bolts involved in fully integrating the ranks. As Aubrey Sarvis, Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, writes “It is true that the services will need time to make the transition work. Some regulations will need to be revised, some written, then issued. Training will have to be scheduled over a period of several months to inform and educate troops about the new policy, just as education and training were needed when the military ended segregation in the ranks. Leadership from senior enlisted and the officers corps will be key to a successful transition.”

“But a smooth and responsible change need not take years,” he concludes. Studying the implantation challenges makes sense but Congress should ensure that the study does not delay the repeal. During the hearing Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) proposed writing into repeal legislation “the period of time you suggest you need [to review the policy]…while legislating that at the end of that time we would have finality. In other words, a complete end to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” Sarvis suggests that Congress could first repeal DADT and “write a provision in the legislation giving the Pentagon another six to nine months for the transition.”

Whatever it does, Congress should not outsource repeal to a ‘working group’ or sit on its hands until the review process is complete. “The 16-year-old policy is a creature of Congress. Thus, it is Congress that must permanently right this wrong” and it should do so before the end of the year. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) has signaled that Congress will institute a moratorium on discharges while the military is studying the policy but it could probably do more. Congress can require the working group to produce bimonthly progress reports and set firm deadlines for completing the reivew. After all, if there is no road map to repeal, there is nothing stopping reluctant military leaders from driving off track.