WASHINGTON - The Defense Department unveiled an ''anti-harassment action plan'' Friday that demands military commanders take action against anyone who engages in, condones or ignores anti-gay behavior.
After four months of deliberations on the vexing problem of enforcing a policy intended to allow homosexuals to serve, so long as they don't reveal their sexual orientation, the Pentagon said it was adopting an ''overarching principle'' on harassment - essentially a reiteration that all individuals must be treated with respect.
''Commanders and leaders must develop and maintain a climate that fosters unit cohesion, esprit de corps and mutual respect for all members of the command or organization,'' it said. The department will issue a directive to ''make clear that mistreatment, harassment and inappropriate comments or gestures, including that based on sexual orientation, are not acceptable.''
The directive will require that commanders be held accountable for failing to enforce that policy.
The ''action plan'' also called for more carefully tailored training in the Pentagon policy on homosexuals, so that it is best suited to the rank and responsibility levels of all troops.
The plan was put together in response to a survey earlier this year by the department's inspector general that found anti-gay speech and harassment were commonplace in the military, especially among enlisted troops.
Carol DiBattiste, undersecretary of the Air Force, headed a panel of civilian and military leaders that created the ''action plan.'' She was presenting details at a joint news conference in which Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki was discussing the Army's effort to curb anti-gay harassment.
Shinseki also was presenting an Army inspector general's report on the circumstances surrounding the murder last summer of a gay private at Fort Campbell, Ky., by a fellow soldier. The report concludes that members of the victim's company violated the military's policy on homosexuals, but it clears all commanders at Fort Campbell of wrongdoing.
The Army report also concludes there was no general ''climate'' of homophobia at Fort Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division, where Pfc. Barry Winchell was murdered in his barracks on July 5, 1999.
''It was determined that the command climate at Fort Campbell before 5 July 1999 was a positive environment,'' with some exceptions, the inspector general's report said. It also said it was clear that the chain of command at Fort Campbell ''responded appropriately'' when confronted with situations that appeared to violate the ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy.
In an Army-wide directive Friday, Shinseki wrote that trust between soldiers is a fundamental requirement.
''Harassment of any kind violates individual dignity and tears at the fabric of this trust and the cohesion of our Army,'' he wrote. ''It will not be tolerated for any reason.''
Outrage over the Winchell killing renewed a national debate over the Clinton administration's policy on homosexuals, which critics assert does not work because it has failed to protect perceived homosexuals from harassment.
The Defense Department inspector general's survey published in March found a widespread belief among troops that the ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy - which Vice President Al Gore says he would eliminate if he were elected president, but which Texas Gov. George W. Bush supports - is not working. President Clinton himself has said the policy, forged in 1993, is ''out of whack.''
The ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy holds that gays can serve in the armed forces so long as they don't reveal their sexual orientation.
Last August the Pentagon announced a new requirement that commanders seek approval from senior civilians at the Pentagon before opening certain types of investigations of troops who acknowledge that they are gay.
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On the Net: Summary of the IG's March report: http://www.dodig.osd.mil/audit/reports/00101sum.htm