Reporting Wednesday’s markup of the 2011 defense bill by his House Armed Services Committee, chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) noted, “You won’t find any mention of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT).” The reason, he said, is that he and ranking member Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) “have agreed to support” the request by Pentagon leaders for “time to study the issue.” Earlier this month, Skelton’s counterpart in the Senate, Carl Levin (D-Mich.), asked Defense Secretary Bob Gates to clarify the Pentagon role in the current debate. Levin is a co-sponsor of the bill (S3065) from Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) to repeal DADT. Skelton, so far, has not signed on to a related bill (HR1283) introduced last year in the House by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.). (Skelton markup remarks)
Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd III met with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines to discuss bolstering defense ties on May 2. The discussion included plans for joint F-35 exercises with Japan and Australia in the coming years.