It's not easy persuading an organization whose motto means "Always Faithful" to lighten up on adultery. Indeed, Defense Secretary William Cohen's attempts to standardize the military's response to adultery cases may have set him on a collision course the Marines. "The Marines think of themselves as bound by a higher code, while Cohen wants uniformity, so there's bound to be conflict," says Thompson. "But Defense Secretaries have learned that you don't want to tangle with the Marines if you can avoid it -- they wield a lot of political power."