WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps commandant said Wednesday that the ability of U.S. troops to fight and win wars must trump other concerns as the nation considers whether to let gays to serve openly in the military.

In testimony before a House committee, Gen. James Conway said he supports a Pentagon assessment to determine how to lift the ban. But he also suggested that civil rights ultimately would have to take a back seat if it meant tampering with the military's ability to protect the country.

"That's what they have been built to do under the current construct and I would argue that we've done a pretty good job bringing that to pass," he told the House Armed Services Committee.

"My concern would be that somehow that central purpose or focus were to become secondary to the discussion," he said.

Conway is seen as the most resistant among the service chiefs to efforts under way in Congress and the Pentagon to repeal the 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" law. But his testimony indicates that he won't stand in the way as Defense Secretary Robert Gates undertakes a comprehensive study on how to lift the ban without hurting the force.

President Barack Obama has pledged to change the policy, saying it unfairly punishes patriots who want to serve their country. Congress would have to agree, and it's unclear whether Democrats would have enough votes to pass the legislation.

The opinion of the service chiefs, and Conway's in particular, is expected to factor heavily into the debate.

It's Conway's job to ensure that young recruits are prepared to deploy to dangerous and remote regions of the world. Because Marines frequently represent the military's first line of attack and are dropped behind enemy lines, unit cohesion and morale are considered vital to their ability to succeed.

In 1993, opponents of President Bill Clinton's proposal to lift the ban on gays argued successfully that it might hurt military effectiveness. Facing resistance in Congress, Clinton settled for "don't ask, don't tell," which allowed gays to serve so long as they kept their sexual orientation a secret.

Conway's concerns have been echoed by other service chiefs.

On Tuesday, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said they had serious concerns about lifting the ban with two wars raging.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead told House lawmakers on Wednesday that he, too, wants the study to be complete before any changes are made.

"That needs to be done because only with that information can we discuss the force that we have, (and) not someone else's," Roughead said.

Britain, Canada, Australia and Israel allow gays to serve openly. Other nations already allow women to serve on submarines; the Navy lifted its ban this month.

Both Conway and Roughead said they would oppose an immediate freeze on firings under "don't ask, don't tell" until Congress can consider broader legislation repealing the 1993 law.

Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has proposed a freeze as a way of allowing gay troops to fight without worrying that they could lose their job.

"Half measures, I think, would only be confusing in the end," Conway said.

Christopher Preble, head of foreign studies at the Cato Institute think tank, said that the service chiefs recognize that change is inevitable, but that the military shouldn't wait too long to determine its next move.

"The military as an institution should not find itself so out of step with the public at large that it cannot relate to the society it's defending," he said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will talk to lawmakers next week about a proposed repeal of a ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military, broaching a sensitive issue that has divided troops in the past.

Gates and top military officer Adm. Mike Mullen "are and frankly have been working on an implementation plan" to carry out President Obama's goal of scrapping the ban, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters on Thursday.

"And they will have more to say about ... their proposed way forward with 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' early next week," Morrell said.

The law introduced in 1993 requires gays to keep quiet about their sexual orientation or face expulsion from the military.

Taking on a politically charged issue, Obama renewed his vow to end the ban in his State of the Union address on Wednesday, saying he would work "this year" with Congress to change the law.

As a candidate, Obama promised to end the policy, but activists have criticized him for moving cautiously on the issue since taking office.

A defense official said Gates and Mullen would describe "a plan on how to proceed with the president's vision."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "the secretary has been intimately involved in conversations with the president leading up to the State of the Union on this issue and is still working on it."
Gates has said previously any change in policy needed to be handled "very, very carefully" as the military was under strain from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The defense secretary was expected to describe possible steps that would need to be taken to prepare the way before the law was changed, the official said.

Another defense official said military leaders were still at a preliminary stage and were not ready to publicly lay out a firm plan for implementing a repeal.

In June, Gates said he asked Pentagon lawyers to consider possible ways to interpret the rule in a more flexible, "humane" manner as an interim step until the law is changed.

Gates would address that option as well at a hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mullen and the joint chiefs of staff "understand perfectly the president's intent to see the law repealed," said Mullen's spokesman, Capt. John Kirby.

"They also take seriously their obligation to provide the president with the best advice about the impact of the repeal of the law and how best the change in policy can be implemented across the force," he told AFP.

Mullen was "prepared to speak to legislators about how that best advice can be developed," he said.
In his speech Wednesday, Obama devoted one sentence to the issue and set no deadline for securing a change to the law.

"This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," the president said.

About 13,000 U.S. service members have been discharged under the policy since it was adopted in 1993. The ban through 2003 has resulted in an estimated $95.4 million in recruiting costs and $95.1 million in training replacements, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Polls show most Americans support allowing openly gay men and lesbians to serve in the U.S. military.
Opponents of changing the rule have warned it could threaten "unit cohesion" in the all-volunteer force and damage morale among troops in a military under strain from years of war.

Former president Bill Clinton agreed to the compromise rule after meeting stiff resistance from commanders and some lawmakers when he proposed allowing gays to serve openly in uniform.

White House officials are anxious to avoid Clinton's experience, when he ended up bogged down in a damaging battle over the issue, sapping his influence early in his first term.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, a Democrat who supports ending the ban, said he believes opinion in and outside the military has progressed since 1993.

"I think there's a generational shift that's taken place," said Levin, who stressed the importance of hearing the views of military officers and enlisted personnel before making moves to end the policy.