The case for keeping the discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell became even weaker today, as leaks from a Pentagon study of the policy suggest that the policy could be repealed “with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts.”

The Washington Post confirmed with two people familiar with the report that the Pentagon study group found overwhelming support or ambivalence to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell among current servicemembers:

More than 70 percent of respondents to a survey sent to active-duty and reserve troops over the summer said the effect of repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would be positive, mixed or nonexistent, said two sources familiar with the document. The survey results led the report’s authors to conclude that objections to openly gay colleagues would drop once troops were able to live and serve alongside them.

One source, who has read the report in full, summarized its findings in a series of conversations this week. The source declined to state his position on whether to lift the ban, insisting it did not matter. He said he felt compelled to share the information out of concern that groups opposed to ending the ban would mischaracterize the findings. The long, detailed and nuanced report will almost certainly be used by opponents and supporters of repeal legislation to bolster their positions in what is likely to be a heated and partisan congressional debate.

In September, when Republicans in the Senate—without a single exception—joined together to filibuster a Defense Authorization bill that included Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, we compiled a list of prominent arguments for and against repeal. The list was lopsided, to say the least, with military leaders and the American public favoring repeal and right-wing leaders railing against it. Since then, two federal judges have found the policy unconstitutional.

Jen wrote yesterday on the prospects of the Senate passing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal during Congress’ lame duck session this year. Sen. John McCain, who is leading the fight to keep Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, has called the Pentagon’s study “a political ploy.” But, the Post reports, at least 10 senators of both parties say they’re waiting to read the report, which will be published on Dec. 1, before deciding how to vote on DADT repeal. Maybe today’s news—suggesting that the forthcoming report will corroborate what experts have been saying all along in the DADT debate—will help them along in their decisions.