NO TRANSGENDER IN THE MILITARY, TRUMP SAYS.

Policy tweet catches defence staff off guard

• President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants transgender people barred from serving in the U.S. military “in any capacity,” citing “tremendous medical costs and disruption.”

Trump’s announcement on Twitter would reverse the effort under president Barack Obama to open the armed services to transgender people. He did not say what would happen to transgender troops already in the military.

The president tweeted that he was making his announcement after consulting with “generals and military experts,” but he did not name any. He said the military “must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

The White House did not immediately respond to questions.

At the Pentagon, members of the staff of Defence Secretary Jim Mattis appeared to have been caught unaware by Trump’s tweets. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, referred questions to the White House.

In a brief written statement, Davis said the Pentagon is working with the White House to “address” what he called “the new guidance” from the president.

Transgender service members have been able to serve openly in the military since last year. Since last Oct. 1, they have been able to receive medical care and start formally changing their gender identifications in the Pentagon’s personnel system.

Already, there are as many as 250 service members in the process of transitioning to their preferred genders or who have been approved to formally change gender, according to defence officials.

A Rand Corp. study estimated that there are between 2,500 and 7,000 service members on active duty who self-identify as transgender and an additional 1,500 to 4,000 in the reserves.

Trump’s decision drew swift outrage from LGBT groups and supporters.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a double amputee veteran of the Iraq War, said that when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down, she didn’t care “if the American troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender or anything else.

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the tweet was “another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter.”