Dan Coats: “this is an emotional subject, a difficult subject. I am former chairman of the Personnel Subcommittee and still a member…”

“this is an emotional subject, a difficult subject. I am former chairman of the Personnel Subcommittee and still a member of that subcommittee. And it is an issue at which I have looked and studied and struggled with for some time. I have come to an opposite conclusion of some of my friends, and I want to tell you why I have. First of all, everyone needs to understand the Byrd amendment is not an effort to return to segregated military units. It is simply designed to say that at that initial entry point, we are dealing with a situation that involves young people, many coming out of very disruptive backgrounds, many in a very vulnerable position. And we have seen--tragically seen--some exploitation of that, which is wrong and absolutely needs to be handled in the most direct way and that sends out a very clear signal that we have zero tolerance on this. But I want to make clear, nevertheless, that the situation we are dealing with in this amendment is with young people at their initial entry point. Now, we do not need another commission. We enacted a commission because I think a lot of Members did not have any faith that the DOD-appointed commission would give an objective view.”