The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, answered questions today regarding the Pentagon's finalized report on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Both Gates and Mullen thanked the authors of the study for their work over the last 10 months and reiterated their desire to see Congress pass a repeal of the law during the current lame-duck session.

"I fully endorse the report, its findings and the implementation plan," Mullen said.

According to the report, more than two-thirds of military service-members and spouses surveyed felt allowing openly gay members would have no negative impact on armed forces readiness and cohesion. The strongest opposition to repeal comes from the Army's ground units, as well as the Marines, according to the report.

"While a repeal would require some changes to regulations, the keys to success is training," Gates said. "This can be done without posing a serious risk to readiness."

The Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to hold hearings later this week on the report and its findings. Scheduled to testify are the individual service chiefs, who Gates said still had reservations about repealing the policy during a time of war.

Both Gates and Mullen said they hoped a repeal would come through Congress, rather than the court system. "I believe it would be unwise to push ahead with repeal before more can be done to prepare the force," Gates said.

The report can be found online here.

Top photo: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (official photo)