WIRE:12/14/1999 01:16:00 ET
Cohen Orders Probe of Harassment of Gay Troops �

� WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary William Cohen on �Monday ordered an immediate investigation at major U.S. military �bases to determine if homosexuals in uniform are being harassed �and driven from the armed forces. �

The 90-day probe by the Pentagon's inspector general into �the military's enforcement of a controversial "don't ask, don't �tell" policy -- allowing gays to quietly serve -- follows last �week's conviction of an Army private at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, �of beating a homosexual soldier to death with a baseball bat. �

Testimony at the trial indicated the victim was harassed �repeatedly before his death and that base commanders did nothing �to stop the badgering. �

"Today, Secretary Cohen has asked the Department of Defense �Inspector General to check major installations in all the �services to assess the human relations environment with respect �to the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," Pentagon spokesman Ken �Bacon told reporters on Monday. �

"The extent to which disparaging speech or expression with �respect to sexual orientation occurs or is tolerated by �individuals in the chain of command will be assessed," Bacon �said, adding that Cohen would receive a report in 90 days. �

The policy allows gays to serve in uniform if they do not �openly discuss their sexual preference or engage in homosexual �acts. But it also forbids harassment of gays or investigation of �suspected homosexuals without solid evidence. �

President Clinton, under whom the policy was introduced in �1993, said on Saturday it has not worked as intended.

� Vice President Al Gore, a candidate for the Democratic �presidential nomination, told reporters during a campaign stop �on Monday the policy should be scrapped and vowed to "eliminate �this unacceptable form of discrimination." �

In his sharpest public break with the Clinton �administration, Gore said "gays and lesbians should be allowed �to serve their country without discrimination," according to a �report in Tuesday's Washington Post. �

Bacon said acting Pentagon Inspector General Donald Mancuso �would decide which bases he will send teams to and that Mancuso �had been ordered to report directly to Cohen in 90 days. �

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which reversed a �half-century ban on homosexuals in the military, was meant to �allow gay men and women to serve quietly in uniform. �

But civil rights groups say that harassment is growing and �that the number of homosexuals being drummed out of the military �is rising. �

The issue was put in the spotlight in the past week after a �military jury at Fort Campbell convicted and sentenced a private �to life in prison for beating a gay infantryman to death with a �baseball bat as the victim slept. �

Testimony in the trial of Army Pvt. Calvin Glover, 18, of �Sulphur, Oklahoma, suggested his victim, PFC. Barry Winchell, �21, of Kansas City, Missouri, was harassed by troops for months �before his death and base commanders did nothing to stop it. �Jurors rejected Glover's contention that he committed the crime �on impulse while drunk. �

Bacon noted that commanders at Fort Campbell and of the �101st Airborne Division based there had promised a full �investigation following the court martial of a second soldier �charged in Winchell's death. That trial has been postponed until �early next year. �

"All of us have read in recent days the very disturbing �charges that have come out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Many �people have asked whether the charges made about Fort Campbell �may apply to other installations in the military," Bacon told �reporters. �

"There will be a Department of Defense Inspector General �investigation -- a spot-checking the climate of major �installations in all the services and reporting back within 90 �days on those findings." �

He said the major bases had not been determined yet but that �it would not include all bases and that Mancuso would decide �where to send teams. �

Teams "will interview soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines �at these installations as well as their non-commissioned �officers and commanders to get as clear an assessment as �possible within 90 days of what the climate is (regarding) the �'don't ask, don't tell'," Bacon told reporters. �

Not only did Clinton speak out against the way the policy �had turned out, but his wife last week also attacked the idea of �treating gays differently from others in uniform. �

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, running for the U.S. �Senate in New York, said on Thursday she did not believe the �rule was "ultimately the policy that we should have in our �military."