The current policy promised to stop questions about sexual orientation, witch hunts, and harassment and to create a "zone of privacy" for all service members, gay and straight. The report finds that those promises have fallen flat. 

"Commanders asked. Commanders pursued. Commanders harassed. All account for the increased command violations," said C. Dixon Osburn, SLDN’s Co-Executive Director. 

The Pentagon has yet to release its 1997 discharge numbers under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue", although the tally has been available for months. 

SLDN, an organization that helps those targeted by the policy on gays and lesbians, cites a lack of commitment from top military and civilian authorities as the explanation for the most recent upsurge in violations of its own policy. Field personnel receive no guidance on the limits to investigations, servicemembers have no recourse when the policy is violated to their detriment, and no one is held accountable. 

"Lack of leadership. Lack of training. Lack of accountability. All are to blame for the military's persistent failure to abide by its own laws," said former Army Captain Michelle Benecke, SLDN’s Co-Executive Director. 

Major findings of SLDN’s fourth annual report, Conduct Unbecoming: The Fourth Annual Report on "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue" include: 
 

• A 39 percent increase in "Don’t Ask" violations. SLDN documented 124 in 1997, up from 89 reported in 1996. The Navy led the services with 46.
• "Don’t Pursue" violations ranked as the worst problem, with 235 violations in 1997, a 23 percent increase from the previous year’s 191. The Air Force led with 90.
• Incidents of anti-gay harassment increased 38 percent, from 132 reported incidents in 1996 to 182 in 1997, including death threats and physical assaults.
• The Navy was worst in anti-gay harassment and asking, with 193 violations.
• The frequent use of threats during gay investigations to extract confessions, including threats of criminal charges, confinement, non-judicial punishment, and "outing."
• Most leaders have yet to receive or read a copy of regulations and guidelines limiting gay investigations, and most do not know what those limits are.

SLDN is the only organization that documents violations of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue." By contrast, the Department of Defense has instituted no method of identifying, documenting, or correcting abuses of the four-year-old policy. 

Among servicemembers who have been investigated by the military in violation of the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue" policy, is Airman Jennifer Dorsey, from Santa Barbara, CA, who was harassed, accused of being a lesbian, and physically assaulted by enlisted women in her dorm. The military took no action against her abusers, and instead threatened an investigation of Dorsey. 

The SLDN report outlines a number of steps needed to end the military’s abuses of its own policy. They include: 
 

• DoD should issue guidance stating the limits to investigations under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue," and the intent of the policy to stop prying.
• All servicemembers should be trained on the limits to gay investigations and commanders should be required to state in writing their reasons for an investigation.
• DoD should train inquiry officers and criminal agents in proper investigative techniques that avoid heavy-handed tactics.
• Commanders who disobey limits should be disciplined. No one in the past two years has been.
• Provide recourse to servicemembers to stop improper investigations.
• DoD should adopt an exclusionary rule so that evidence obtained illegally can be excluded at administrative discharge boards.
• DoD should adopt a rule of confidentiality for psychotherapist/patient conversations.
• The services should distribute the Dorn memo on anti-gay harassment and lesbian-baiting to all servicemembers.
• An expert panel including representatives from outside the military should review the administrative separation process and make recommendations for improvement.

District Judge Stanley Sporkin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that in seeking to determine the identity of the person behind the anonymous online profile, the military violated both the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and the limits to investigations under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue." 

"The Navy violated the very essence of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Pursue’ by launching a search and destroy mission," Sporkin wrote. "Suggestions of sexual orientation in a private, anonymous email account did not give the Navy a sufficient reason to investigate to determine whether to commence discharge proceedings. In its actions, the Navy violated its own regulations." The military has yet to decide whether it will appeal Judge Sporkin’s ruling. 

SLDN’s findings in Conduct Unbecoming: The Fourth Annual Report on "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue" are well-documented. Servicemembers and attorneys who work on cases are available for interviews, except in cases where servicemembers could suffer retaliation for speaking. 

Source: SLDN 
19 Feb. 98 

During that same year, 997 people were given such discharges, a major increase from 850 the year before, according to a new study that has not yet been made public by the Pentagon. Critics contend the rise is due to harassment of gays, but some Pentagon officials have speculated there may be other reasons since many of those who are voluntarily disclosing their omosexuality do so shortly after enlisting. Some officers say it could be used as an excuse by people who are unhappy with being in the military and want to leave. However, the officials said they could not offer any figures to back up such a claim, since the military does not follow those people who return to private life.  

On the radio program Cohen said he had ordered the study to ensure that "there are no witch-hunts going on." The secretary said he believed the "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy of the Clinton administration is working and that if it's not, he'll make sure the policy is followed. The policy, adopted soon after President Clinton took office, is supposed to allow gays to serve if they keep their sexual orientation private and to punish those who engage in homosexual acts or take actions that call attention to their orientation. Commanders are not to ask about sexual rientation or launch investigations without credible evidence.  

Source: The Advocate online.  
8 April 98