The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says a ban tweeted by President Trump must go through formal channels and guidance issued before any changes are made.<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 The nation\u2019s senior military officer said Thursday that there will be \u201cno modifications\u201d to Pentagon policies for now despite President Trump\u2019s social media posts declaring a ban on transgender troops in uniform.
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a memo to commanders and senior enlisted leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines that the military will continue to \u201ctreat all of our personnel with respect.\u201d
Dunford said Pentagon policy on transgender troops would not change until the White House has issued Trump\u2019s directive to Secretary of Defense James Mattis through formal channels \u2013 not on Twitter \u2013 and the secretary\u2019s office issues guidance on implementation to the service chiefs. It\u2019s unclear when that might happen.
The unusual memo appeared intended to calm widespread confusion and concern at the Pentagon, which was blindsided when Trump wrote Wednesday that Pentagon would not \u201caccept or allow\u201d transgender troops to serve \u201cin any capacity.\u201d
The president\u2019s posts appeared to reverse a year-old Pentagon policy that allowed transgender soldiers to openly serve for the first time, and to seek sex reassignment surgery, hormone therapy and other treatments at military hospitals.
Trump\u2019s surprise announcement not only marked a retreat for the Pentagon push to bar gender-based discrimination. It also was an about-face for Trump, who had repeatedly vowed his support for the LGBT community during the campaign last year.
The posts raised questions about the fate of thousands of transgender service members, including some deployed overseas, and whether they would be kicked out of the military under Trump\u2019s directive.
Dunford\u2019s memo appeared to address those fears, at least for the short term.
\u201cThere will be no modifications to the current policy until the President\u2019s direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance, \u201d he wrote.
\u201cIn the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect, \u201d he added. \u201cAs importantly, given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions.\u201d
In his tweets, Trump said he had decided to bar transgender troops because the military \u201ccannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.\u201d
Experts said neither justification was accurate or fair since the expected medical costs were negligible and transgender troops have been openly serving for the past year without disruption.
The sweeping declaration drew rebuke from war veterans and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups, who vowed to challenge Trump in federal court if self-identified transgender service members are forced out of the military.
VoteVets, a liberal military veterans advocacy group, said Thursday it had collected more than 20,000 signatures from veterans, military families and other supporters to oppose the ban.
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