women are subservient to men." In a "60 Minutes" interview broadcast on CBS on January 20, 2002, she described the discrimination she experienced under the policy: "I have to sit in the back and at all times I must be escorted by a male ... [who], when questioned, is supposed to claim me as his wife," she said. "I can fly a single-seat aircraft in enemy territory, but [in Saudi Arabia] I can't drive a vehicle. General Tommy Franks, then commander of the United States Central Command, announced in 2002 that U.S. military servicewomen would no longer be required to wear the abaya, although they would be "encouraged" to do so as a show of respect for local customs. Commenting on the change, Central Command spokesman Colonel Rick Thomas said it was not made because of McSally's lawsuit but had already been "under review" before the lawsuit was filed. McSally had been working to change the policy for several years and had filed the lawsuit after she had been threatened with a court martial if she did not comply. In 2002, Congress passed legislation prohibiting anyone in the military from "requiring or encouraging servicewomen to put on abayas in Saudi Arabia or to use taxpayers' money to buy them." Following her USAF career, McSally has continued to speak out about gender relations in Saudi Arabia. Retirement After retiring from the U.S. Air Force on May 6, 2010, she worked as a professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. U.S. House of Representatives 2012 elections On February 9, 2012, McSally announced her candidacy for the special election for Arizona's 8th congressional district vacancy created by the resignation of Gabby Giffords. She was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican primary for the special election, finishing second to Jesse Kelly. McSally then ran for and won the Republican nomination in the regular election for the district, which had been renumbered the 2nd district. She faced incumbent Democrat Ron Barber and Libertarian nominee Anthony Powell in the November 2012 election. She was endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Wholesalers, and Associated Builders and Contractors. The race was one of the closest in the nation. McSally led on election night by a few hundred votes, but the race was deemed too close to call due to