Elaine Donnelly is president of the Center for Military Readiness, an independent, nonpartisan public policy organization that specializes in military/social issues. Founded in 1993, CMR advocates high, single standards in all forms of military training and sound priorities in the making of military/social policies.

Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger appointed Mrs. Donnelly to be a member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) for a three-year term (1984–1986). In 1992, Pres. George H. W. Bush appointed her to the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces.

She is the author of a chapter titled “Defending the Culture of the Military,” which was published by the Air Force University Press in the book Attitudes Are Not Free – Thinking Deeply About Diversity in the U.S. Armed Forces, released in May 2010. In May 2007 the Duke University Journal of Gender Law & Policy published her comprehensive, peer-reviewed article titled “Constructing the Co-Ed Military.”

Mrs. Donnelly has published articles on military personnel issues in many newspapers and magazines nationwide, including the Washington Post, USA Today, the Boston Globe, Congressional Quarterly Researcher, U.S. News & World Report, the Washington Times, the Naval Institute’s Proceedings, and Human Events, and has appeared on most network and cable network discussion programs. Previously active in volunteer political and issue activities, in 2002 she was the recipient of the American Conservative Union’s Ronald Reagan Award.