U.S. Army retiree Charles Calahan, in his Jan. 11 letter to the editor opposing the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy, accuses those who support this repeal of putting forth “nonsensical arguments” and then offers a nonsensical argument of his own.

Calahan asserts that “during the Cold War, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division in Germany was kept busy keeping sodomites from revealing to Soviet agents of the same perversion vital information,” while ignoring the plethora of examples of heterosexual dalliances leading to the potential revelation of secret information (that is to say, World War I’s Mata Hari, the 1963 Profumo Affair, etc.), or the fact that the Israeli military — one of the most efficacious in the world —has no issue with homosexuals serving openly.

Calahan also utilizes the WikiLeaks incident and the alleged role of homosexual Army Pfc. Bradley Manning to attempt to bolster his argument while failing to realize it does just the opposite.

Manning’s actions have been reported as having been motivated by a frustration with the prior system, in which a homosexual member of the military must hide sexual orientation, a clear recipe for setting up the potential for blackmail and the like.

Calahan’s position is nothing more than the attempt to disguise religious doctrine in the terms of military efficacy and, as such, is entirely invalid in a secular nation.