Dan Choi, co-founder of KnightsOut, a group campaigning to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t tell (DADT) spoke recently to PinkNews.co.uk on how the firing of gay linguists may have undermined national security in the lead up to 9/11.

“On Monday, September 10th 2001, a message was intercepted by the State Department: tomorrow is zero hour. Despite its simplicity, nobody was able to translate it. Any of the dozens of linguists already discharged for being gay at the time would have done so easily.”

Choi, a former infantry platoon leader for the New York Army National guard, has been outspoken against DADT since coming out of the closet on the Rachel Maddow Show In March:

Since the introduction of DADT in 1994, over 1200 services members have been ejected from the military, including 60 Arab linguists.