REAGAN AIDE: 200,000 GAYS WERE IN MILITARY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993                   TAG: 9304010152
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
REAGAN AIDE: 200,000 GAYS WERE IN MILITARY
The Defense Department ordered destruction of a draft study in the late 1980s showing that up to 200,000 of the 2 million people then in the military were homosexuals, a former Pentagon manpower chief during the Reagan administration said Wednesday.
Testifying at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on gays in the military, Lawrence Korb said the numbers surfaced as part of a broad-range review of manpower security issues. He said officials at the time considered the finding to be extraneous to the purpose of the study.
Korb's revelation came amid questioning by committee members after he said he could find "no convincing evidence" that lifting the ban on homosexuals would undermine unit cohesion.
"In fact, this change is likely to have less short-term impact on cohesion" than racial integration or broadening the military opportunities for women, he said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB