Heh — you knew a credibility challenge was going to come down the pike from the Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee — charges that the nine-month study of the impact of repealing DADT will be, oh, “pro-homosexual,” and will simply validate the decision to jettison the policy (AP, via Steve Rothaus’ Gay South Florida):

GOP lawmakers are likely to use the argument to try to chip away at the credibility of the assessment, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates envisions as the first comprehensive look at the policy in its 17-year lifetime.

Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson and U.S. Army Forces Europe commander Gen. Carter Ham were expected to testify Wednesday before a House Armed Services subcommittee for the first time since being tapped to lead the study.

“Many of us on this committee have serious concerns with putting our men and women in uniform through such a divisive debate while they are fighting two wars,” said Rep. Buck McKeon of California, the full committee’s top Republican.

The statement by Buck McKeon, repeated frequently by other pols in favor of keeping DADT in place — is getting old. It makes the assumption that asking service members a few questions and observing the forces will somehow disable them from doing their duties. We really must have a weak-kneed military if that’s the case; why do these elected officials keep making appeals that sound like those serving in the military are delicate flowers that wilt at the drop of a hat? It’s a real denigrating line of BS to drop.

Assailing the vendor selected to conduct the study is now the tactic being pulled out of the cultural dungeon of the GOP. The RAND Corp will handle the work; the AP obtained an email from a McKeon staffer outlining the purported “significant shortcomings” of the company citing one RAND staffer’s research (not on work time) with a pro-repeal org, The Palm Center.

“Given RAND’s track record on this issue, there is no way that any study it produces can be called credible or objective,” staffer John Chapla wrote.

RAND spokesman Jeffrey Hiday said the company did not work side by side with the pro-repeal group last year. A RAND researcher did some work on her own time” for the Palm Center, Hiday said, and is no longer doing so. “RAND has no ideological perspective. We approach every problem by focusing on the facts and analyzing the facts.”

(The Palm Center’s Nathaniel Frank, by the way, has an article up at The New Republic today,  ”Pencils Down: ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ doesn’t need to be studied for another minute“)

But here’s the reality check: the point of the study (to be completed by Dec. 1), as Sec. Def. Gates has stated publicly, is not about asking permission from service members to repeal the policy. What it is specifically:

“it will focus primarily on three areas: changes to legislation, education and training and policy…and led by a senior civilian and a one- or two-star general. Air Force Maj. Gen. Greg Biscone has been appointed the group’s executive director.

Since the Congressman is hell-bent on pursuing this line of spin that the study is biased, will someone on the committee please ask Rep. Buck McKeon to challenge the qualifications and impartiality of Gen. Biscone regarding his leadership of it? Is the Congressman suggesting that Biscone’s just there for show while RAND tosses the study? Look at the General’s creds:

He is responsible for the development of Air Force policy, concepts, analysis and strategy for the next QDR. His organization continually re-orients the department’s capabilities and forces to be more agile in times of war, prepare for wider asymmetric challenges, and mitigate risk against uncertainty over the next 20 years.

General Biscone is a 1981 distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. His assignments include combat crew instructor duty and wing command in the B-52; squadron, group and wing command in the B-2; advanced systems acquisition; and aide to the Commander, Air Combat Command. He also led the Joint Staff’s Force Integration Branch, directed the Headquarters U.S. Executive Secretariat, and served as ACC’s Assistant Director of Air and Space Operations. Prior to his current assignment, he was Deputy Director of Operations, U.S. Central Command.

General Biscone commanded expeditionary forces and flew B-52 missions in operations Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom. He also commanded B-2 actions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with strikes from both continental United States and deployed locations. He is a command pilot with more than 3,800 hours.

Man up, Buck. Do you have a problem with Air Force Maj. Gen. Greg Biscone’s ability to handle the working group?