DON'T ASK, DON'T TREAT

By DOUGLAS WALLER/WASHINGTON

The Pentagon is quietly trying to kill an AIDS research program. Under the decade-old initiative, drug companies have run tests on more than 4,000 HIV-positive volunteers. Researchers like using soldiers because they are a disciplined group who can take complicated dosages on schedule. Pentagon officials deny they're cutting the program, but documents show that much of the $15 million Congress allocated for the research next year will be diverted. The Pentagon doesn't like the program because it keeps infected G.I.s in the service longer.

--By Douglas Waller/Washington