Elaine Donnelly

Elaine Donnelly is founder and President of the Center for Military Readiness an independent public policy organization that specializes in military personnel issues, emphasizing that the military should not be " used for political purposes or social experiments that needlessly elevate risks, detract from readiness, or degrade American cultural values." A political conservative who received the American Conservative Union’s 2002 Ronald Reagan Award, she has referred to President Barack Obama's policy of permitting gays in the military to be "a reckless campaign promise."

She has participated in educational programs sponsored by the United States Naval Institute, Hillsdale College, the Foreign Policy Institute, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and Independent Women’s Forum.

In the Reagan Administration, she was a member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (1984-1986), appointed by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed her to the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces. She criticized the testimony of Gen. Rhonda Cornum to that commission, challenged Cornum's withholding the information on her sexual abuse as a prisoner of war prior to testifying, suggesting she was generating publicity for her book. Cornum said that her command had directed her not to reveal the information after she was repatriated, citing the sensitivity of diplomacy involving Iraq.

In May 2007 the Duke University Journal of Gender Law & Policy published her comprehensive, peer-reviewed article titled “Constructing the Co-Ed Military.” In July 2008 she presented testimony on the issue of homosexuals in the military before the House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee. A chapter she has written on that subject, titled “Defending the Culture of the Military,” will be included in the book Defense Department Social Policy Perspectives 2010, which the Air University Press will publish early in 2010.