(UPDATED: See below for Sec. Gates reaction)
The Pentagon is the largest office building in the world and alongside the legions of uniformed service members here work thousands of plainclothes civilian Defense Department employees (like Stars and Stripes reporters), big D contractors and temporary workers - from spooks to cooks.
I've been working here for about six months. My impression is that it's at once a huge, soulless office building and an intimate-if-oversized high school of faces you see every day and some you see once and never again.
Think about the guys suffering work at mindless Initech, and now imagine their office is just one section, of one hallway, of one ring of one floor in a huge M.C. Escher working complex. But with all the panache of the U.S. military.
On Wednesday afternoon at 5:45pm, President Obama is scheduled to announce he is ordering the federal government to extend some worker benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees.
Imagine the stares in the hallways on Thursday.
The Pentagon's chief press official, Bryan Whitman, today told reporters in his office Wednesday morning that he did not think the military's 16-year old "don't ask, don't tell" policy was a part of the White House process in deciding to extend benefits to civilian employees. He said there was nothing new to add on any DADT change progress.
When asked if he thought this would create an obvious point of contention among DoD workers, Whitman said he didn't think so, and stressed that Americans make a choice to join the military, and, implicitly, all the rules that come with it.
Tomorrow, we'll get a chance to hear from the men in charge. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and JCS Chairman Mullen are expected to give a press conference at 2:30pm.
Granted, at this point it would be stunning if any newsworthy announcement on gay service members was announced in any informal way, or even from the Pentagon at all. Congress must rewrite legislation to remove the prohibition on homosexuality in the military, a move the White House supports, but there have been conflicting signs between Senate and House Democrats on who should take the first step. And President Obama has been taking lots of fire from the LGBT and human rights communities lately for his staunchly moderate positions that have not satisfied that voting bloc which gave Obama huge electoral support last November.
If you're not up to speed, Obama administration lawyers last week filed court papers defending the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which is a federal same-sex marriage ban. The administration's said it had to defend the legitimacy of the law, even if it did not support what the law says. In other words, Obama's legal strategy is to fight this fight another way, but it outraged gay-rights supporters nonetheless.
For many anxious advocates, who point to Obama's campaign promises opposing both DOMA and DADT, the brief was the last straw on what they consider White House foot-dragging.
Several newspapers in the past week also have run editorials telling Obama the time has come to act on the issue, and act in one way. The Seattle Times, said on Monday that Obama "has not delivered on a key pledge," and "Obama and Congress should change the rule sooner rather than later. There is no perfect moment." Want more, check out the Denver Post ("...quickly abolish this unfair rule"); Scripps Howard News Service ("a policy that made sense in 1993 perhaps makes little sense now"); Palm Beach Post ("rapidly becoming archaic"); Kansas City Star ("increasingly ridiculous as qualified servicemen and women are discharged for a reason that has nothing to do with their service or conduct"); and so on.
Obama speaking Wednesday at 5:45pm EDT. Gates and Mullen, Thursday at 2:30pm.
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UPDATE: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs today was asked about the DADT timeline.
Q One other question. What is the timeline on DOMA and "don't ask, don't tell"? Can you understand the frustrations of gay and lesbian groups who feel like you're slow-walking these issues?
MR. GIBBS: Well, of course I can understand their frustrations. That's why the President is committed to changing both DOMA and "don't ask, don't tell," which have been, respectively, the law of the land since 1996 and 1993, I believe. Obviously they've waited a long time for policies that are either not in our national interest or hurtful to be changed.
We are working on a large amount of things. The President added financial regulation to that large plate of things just this afternoon and this morning. But it is a priority of the President to get done.
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UPDATE: I asked Defense Gates on Thursday, with thousands of civilian Pentagon employees working alongside uniformed personnel just outside of Washington who should take the lead on this issue. Gates said the difference between those groups is that military personnel require Congress to change to the law.
Gates: "This department's position is dictated by the fact there is a law. And the law only applies to people in uniform. So on the civilian side, we will absolutely apply and implement everything the president announced yesterday. But until the law is changed, our ability to change the policy is extremely limited, if not nonexistent."
