Earlier this year, Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the policy, 
which bars lesbians and gay men from serving openly, should be done away with. "No matter how I look a the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens."
As Stein notes, a measure to repeal the policy was blocked last week by Senate Republicans. At an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor Mullen, according to Stein, expressed disappointment over the Senate's action and restated his support for ending the policy.
"I am very clear where I was on February 2 and where I am today," Mullen said. "This is my personal view. I struggled greatly with the fact that we asked people in an institution that values integrity, which is who we are, that we would ask individuals to show up every day and basically lie. So my position on that hasn't changed at all."
Mullen, however, said he would prefer that Congress take the lead in dumping the policy instead of the military revising it.
Groups pushing for the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," are still urging lawmakers to vote on repealing the policy before year's end.