elected officials do and did not work within a vacuum when they passed section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act *forcing* schools to allow military recruiters.

there was testimony from representatives of the u.s. military to members of congress basically saying that because so many schools had banned military recruiters, it was harming recruitment. this was actually a lie - as recruitment was doing just fine. THIS is the reason that congress overwhelmingly supported NCLB 9528 and restricting school's free speech rights.

as much as the u.s. military wishes to claim that, "we just follow policy", they are actively engaged in attempts to set that policy by various testimonies and pressures placed upon both the executive and legislative branches of office. the banning of openly gay members of the military is an example of this - as people in the military claim that it will harm their ability to fight.