As Discharge of Gay Linguists Continues, Pentagon Again Acknowledges Shortage

". . . [W]E NEED THESE CAPABILITIES," DOD UNDERSECRETARY SAYS

WASHINGTON, DC - In an interview published in today's American Forces Press
Service, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gail McGinn
underscored the Pentagon's need to recruit new language specialists,
especially those who speak Arabic and "linguists for other areas of the
world that have attracted increased U.S. interest during the war on terror."

Undersecretary McGinn's comments come just three weeks after the New
Republic reported that between 1998 and 2004, the military discharged 20
Arabic and six Farsi language speakers under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban
on lesbian and gay military personnel. Half of those discharges came after
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

"Undersecretary McGinn should remind Congress that, without 'Don't Ask,
Don't Tell,' our military would have at least twenty additional Arabic
linguists on the job," said C. Dixon Osburn, Executive Director of
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). "The military's gay ban is
impacting the Pentagon's ability to efficiently translate terrorist
messages, communicate with civilians on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan
and protect the national security of the United States. 'Don't Ask, Don't
Tell' is illogical in any language."

McGinn reports to the Press Service that the Department of Defense has
initiated "a pilot program within the Army, encouraging Iraqi Americans to
join the Individual Ready Reserve, providing a pool of Arabic linguists."
McGinn told the news service that "The global war on terror made us realize
that we need these capabilities . . ."

The 9/11 Commission Report, issued last year, identified the lack of trained
linguists as a key concern. In 2002, the General Accounting Office
concluded that the shortage "adversely affected agency operations and
compromised U.S. military . . . efforts." In 2004, Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge said that "we need more Arabic-speaking analysts,"
according to the New Republic article.

"It really says a lot about the people who support discrimination when they
are happy to fire brave Arabic linguists just because they're gay," said
Aaron Belkin, Director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in
the Military at UC-Santa Barbara. "When we don't have enough people to read
intercepted intelligence cables, sexual orientation should be the last thing
on the minds of Pentagon leaders."

FOR MORE INFORMATION, visit http://www.sldn.org <http://www.sldn.org> and
http://www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu <http://www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu>

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