Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

General Ham Responds to DADT Questions in Senate Testimony

Thursday morning, General Carter Ham, commander of the United States Army in Europe, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) for his nomination to the United States Africa Command.

Along with questions surrounding his nomination, General Ham also responded to inquiries about his work as co-chair of the Comprehensive Review Working Group (CRWG) studying the implementation of DADT repeal. He told Chairman Levin that the Working Group report, now circulating among the Joint Chiefs for review and comment, will likely not be released before it is due to Secretary Gates on December 1. In response to questions from Senator Lieberman, General Ham reviewed the four critical areas CRWG had studied in preparing the report.

Perhaps most interesting was Senator Webb’s commendation to General Ham on the thoroughness of the upcoming report. In May, Senator Webb was the only Democrat on SASC to vote against adding the repeal amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and then voted for cloture to move to consideration of the NDAA in September. Senator Webb is on SLDN’s list of key targets, and it will be interesting to see to what extent, if any, the CRWG report will inform Senator Webb’s decision when he votes on the McCain amendment to strike repeal provisions from the bill.

For more information on General Ham’s testimony, visit Igor Volsky’s in-depth blog post, with video, at Think Progress.

11-19-10 By Jeremy Wilson-Simerman, SLDN Legislative Manager |