Jones doesn’t know if ‘Dont Ask, Don’t Tell’ will be repealed

National Security Adviser Jim Jones said Sunday he didn’t know for sure whether the ban on gays and lesbians the policy would be overturned.

Jones signaled a slower move to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy than many LGBT activists who supported Obama’s presidential campaign have hoped.

“This is, as you know, an issue that is not going to be a light switch but more of a rheostat in terms of discussing it and building,” Jones said Sunday during on ABC’S “This Week.”

“It will be teed up appropriately and it will be discussed in the way the president does things, which is be very deliberative, very thoughtful, seeking out all sides on the issue,” Jones said.

Jones said that the administration had begun preliminary discussions about the policy with the Department of Defense and senior military officials as part of a deliberative process.

“I don’t know,” Jones replied when asked directly if the ban would be overturned.

“The president I know will reach out to fully understand both sides or all sides of the issue before he makes a decision,” Jones explained.

Obama had written a personal note to a female soldier who’d been ousted due to her sexuality, saying it was his intention to follow through on his campaign promise to overturn the ban on gays and lesbians in the military.