Three years after the demise of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” an estimated 15,000 members of the military still must lie about themselves in order to go on risking their lives for their country. When Congress eliminated the law against gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, the Pentagon left in place an equally unfounded prohibition on transgender people.

It was gratifying, then, to hear Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel say in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, “Every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it.” After all, unlike the ban on openly gay soldiers, the rule on transgender people is just a rule. There is no law prohibiting them from serving openly.

But, inexplicably, Mr. Hagel said only that he was “open” to reviewing the policy. He did not say whether he favored lifting the ban and when — or even whether — such a review might take place. There is none underway, and Mr. Hagel currently has no plan to start one. On Monday he told reporters he would prefer to learn more about the issue rather than begin a formal review.

In the ABC interview, Mr. Hagel repeated the standard excuse for this discrimination — that complex medical and logistical issues could preclude transgender people from serving in “austere” combat conditions. That excuse does not hold up, as a panel of former military officers and experts on gender and health led in part by former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders concluded in March.