"We will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect."

Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff: No Change To Military’s Policy On Transgender Service Members

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced today that despite Donald Trump’s tweet to the contrary there has been no change yet to the military’s policy regarding transgender personnel.

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“There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President’s direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance,” Dunford wrote in a statement to service chiefs, commanders and senior enlisted leaders, Reuters reports.

“In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect. As importantly, given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions.”

Dunford’s comment is the latest that questions whether the president can unilaterally make military policy that supersedes the Pentagon and Congress.

Yesterday Senator John McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee and a decorated war hero, criticized Trump’s social-media fiat.

The President’s tweet this morning regarding transgender Americans in the military is yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter. The statement was unclear. The Department of Defense has already decided to allow currently-serving transgender individuals to stay in the military, and many are serving honorably today. Any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving. There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train, and deploy to leave the military—regardless of their gender identity. We should all be guided by the principle that any American who wants to serve our country and is able to meet the standards should have the opportunity to do so—and should be treated as the patriots they are. The Department of Defense is currently conducting a study on the medical obligations it would incur, the impact on military readiness, and related questions associated with the accession of transgender individuals who are not currently serving in uniform and wish to join the military. I do not believe that any new policy decision is appropriate until that study is complete and thoroughly reviewed by the Secretary of Defense, our military leadership, and the Congress. The Senate Armed Services Committee will continue to follow closely and conduct oversight on the issue of transgender individuals serving in the military.

In July 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter rescinded the military’s ban on transgender personnel, allowing existing trans service members to serve openly. But a plan for accepting new troops who identified as transgender still had to formulated.

Earlier this year, current Defense secretary Jim Mattis requested a six-month extension on submitting those plans, but no indication was given that the Pentagon was pushing back on the lifting the ban. (In fact, Mattis rejected for a two-year deferral on the repeal.)

Under Carter’s direction, transgender recruits and officer candidates were required to be certified by a doctor as stable in their gender identity for 18 months before enlisting.