This afternoon, during an interview with KTVA’s Matt Felling, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said that she would not oppose repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell “as long as as long as it is supported by the troops as long as it doesn’t hurt the performance, the morale, the recruitment”:

MURKOWSKI: I have said that I would work to make sure that as long as it is supported by the troops as long as it doesn’t hurt the performance, the morale, the recruitment, that these are all things we want to take into consideration. I think we will see this play out in this report. If in fact, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is included in the defense authorization and we get to a point where we can move that bill through, I would not oppose the Defense Authorization Bill because Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — the repeal of it — is included within it.

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Murkowski went on to say that the country was at “different point in time.” “There is clearly a level of acceptance within our communities, at all levels, of supporting and providing for that level of equality for the homosexual community and I think it’s important to recognize that,” she added.

Interestingly, hours after taping this interview (sometime before 4pm EST), Murkowski appeared on CNN’s The Situation Room (after 6pm EST) and suggested that she didn’t know how she would vote on the issue, possibly hinting that her vote would depend on an open amendment process. “I don’t know how it is going to be presented in the upcoming lame duck in terms of that defense authorization bill, and whether or not we will get to that,” she said. “It is indeterminate at this point in time.” Watch it:

Last night during an appearance on MSNBC, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) refused to say if she would vote for a National Defense Authorization Act that included a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but this afternoon, during an interview with KTV’s Matt Felling in Alaska, Murkowski said that she would “not vote against a bill that had that repeal in it.”

Felling appeared on CNN this afternoon to preview the interview:

FELLING: And then I pursued the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell vote because that’s something that she’s been very reluctant to talk about because she wanted to hear from the troops and kick the can down the road. And then today she said, listen there have been leaks out of this poll inside the Pentagon, saying the troops are fine with it being repealed and you know, we are a different sort of warfare there aren’t trenches there aren’t fox holes anymore, I would not vote against a bill that had that repeal in it. And that’s honestly the first time she came swinging on that topic too.

Watch it:

Earlier today at a press conference with 13 other Democratic Senators, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — the sponsor of DADT repeal in the Senate — predicted that the measure would garner more than 60 votes. “I am confident that we have more than 60 votes prepared to take up the Defense authorization with the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ if only there will be a guarantee of a fair and open amendment process, in other words, whether we’ll take enough time to do it,’ Lieberman said, naming GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Richard Lugar as ‘Yes’ votes. “Time is an inexcusable reason not to get this done.”

Felling’s interview with Murkowski airs tonight on KTVA. Requests for comment from Murkowski’s office were not returned.

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This afternoon, Defense Department spokesperson Geoff Morrell gave the Pentagon’s strongest endorsement yet of passing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal during the lame duck session of the Senate. Speaking to reporters at a news conference, Morrell said that the Pentagon, as part of the Obama administration, is “pushing for and we certainly see the merit in using that as a legislative vehicle to get repeal”:

MORRELL: Historically, this Department has not been one to tell the Senate how to do its business. That said, we are a member of this administration and this President had made a call, as I understand it, to Sen. Levin this week and Sen Reid I believe as well, making it clear he wants to see the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell attached to the National Defense Authorization Act and that’s what we as an administration are pushing for, and we certainly see the merit in using that as the legislative vehicle to ultimately get to repeal.

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Morrell, who reiterated that the study would not be released before December the 1, also argued that the Pentagon was responding to the concerns of those pressing for repeal and operating under an expedited timeline. “I would just remind you that the original plan here was for us to work towards December the 1 as the date by which the report would be due and then the internal work would begin,” he said. “We have compressed that timeline such that we are now operating on parallel tracks. Not only is the draft report still being finalized, but we are also doing the internal work that would have taken place after December 1st simultaneously so that we can, on December the 1, not just release the report but the Secretary can state where he wants to take us with regards to this measure.”

“There is a lot of work to do between now and then because we have compressed this. Sensitive to the fact that there is a real desire for direction on this,” he said. Gates is “actively working to get this done on an expedited timeline.” “You have also heard him really really strongly lately on his real concern in regards to court action being the mechanism that ultimately leads to a change in this law and policy. The fear there is that it would be a very precipitous change and force us to change on a dime, with the flick of a light switch, if you will,” Morrell added.

Morrell had struck a far less bullish tone in his last press briefing on November 4th. At that point, in discussing priorities for the lame duck session of Congress, Morrell said that “we are clearly urging Congressional action, echoing the President on [ratifying the] START treaty,” but stopped short of calling on Congress to move quickly towards ending the ban. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen “want a study to take place in advance of that repeal to educate us how to deal” with repeal, he had said. Last week, at a press availability en route to Melbourne, Australia, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates did tell reporters that he would like Congress to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the lame duck session but was “not sure what the prospects for that are.”

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Army Gen. Carter F. Ham — the co-chairman of the Pentagon’s Working Group on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — told Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) during his confirmation hearings this morning that he does not anticipate that the review group would be able to release its study of the policy before December 1, noting that the Service Chiefs were still commenting on its findings:

HAM: “Mr. Chairman, I think it will take until the first of December. The key factor remaining for us in the review group is to receive the review and comment by the Service Chiefs and service secretaries, which is ongoing. We anticipate their comments soon, Mr. Johnson and I will review those comments, make final adjustments to the report, which is currently in draft form and deliver to the Secretary of Defense on 1 December.

LEVIN: Would you make every effort to deliver prior to December 1, if possible?

HAM: “Yes sir, in consultation with the Secretary’s office.”

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Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have also asked the Pentagon to release its study as soon as possible, noting that an earlier release date would allow Congress more time to review and debate the issue. Still, the Service Chiefs’ review and acceptance of the report could prove critical, since they opposed changing the policy in May (and had written separate letters to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) articulating that position).

Later in the hearing, McCain — who strongly opposes repeal — asked Ham about the preamble of the study, essentially confirming that the Pentagon was anticipating a change in the policy. Ham also described the work of the study, for Lieberman, a sponsor of the repeal amendment in the Senate, noting that the group was charged with assessing “should repeal occur,” “understanding those impacts” and “develop a plan for implementation so that if the law is repealed and the policy changes, the Defense Department is prepared for that.”

Ham reiterated that the study surveyed servicemmebers and their families about repealing the policy, “conducted a number of engagements across the force in groups both large and small,” established “an online inbox” for members of the military “to provide anonymously their comments to us with regard to their thoughts about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and established a “confidential conversation mechanism” to incorporate the views of closeted gay servicemembers.

“We believe this is probably, as far as I could tell, the most comprehensive assessment of a personnel policy matter that the Department of Defense has conducted,” Ham concluded. Watch it:

Last night, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that he would bring the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — and the DADT repeal amendment that it contains — to the floor of the Senate after the Thanksgiving recess. Levin has asked Reid “to make his motion to bring up the matter after my committee and the public have received the Defense Department’s report and following the hearings that I plan to hold on the matter, which should take place during the first days of December.”