Military ordered to report on transgender policy
A top Pentagon WASHINGTON official has called on the civilian and uniformed leaders of the armed services to report on their plans to begin accepting new transgender troops by July 1, according to a memo obtained by USA TODAY.
Last year, the Pentagon rescinded its ban on transgender troops, allowing those in uniform to serve openly. The policy, established under Defense Secretary Ash Carter in the Obama administration, also called for the services to develop plans to educate troops about transgender issues and to accept enlisted recruits and officer candidates by this summer.
The May 8 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work instructs the service secretaries and chiefs of the armed services to assess the military’s “readiness to begin accepting transgender applicants on July 1, 2017.” Their assessments are due May 31.
The memo also contains language that one of the architects of the policy interprets as an opportunity for the services to back out of recruiting transgender troops.
“The personnel policies of this Department are designed to enhance the warfighting readiness and lethality of the force that protects our country,” Work wrote. “We do not
intend to reconsider prior decisions unless they cause readiness problems that could lessen our ability to fight, survive and win on the battlefield.”
It’s the “unless” in Work’s memo that troubles Brad Carson, a top official for military personnel under Carter and primary advocate for rescinding the ban.
“This could be seen as an opportunity to reconsider the policy,” Carson said. “It is certainly possible, and it would invite litigation. I do have full confidence in (Defense Secretary) Jim Mattis to do the right thing here.”
Work, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on the memo. As for Mattis, the Pentagon press office released a statement that read, “The Secretary is awaiting the input of Services on May 31. When he receives that input he will make decisions based on readiness needs.”
Mattis has made the “readiness and lethality” standard that his deputy referred to as a top priority for the Pentagon.
Developing a policy on accepting new transgender troops is taking on new urgency. This month, two transgender cadets — one at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and another at the Naval Academy at Annapolis — are scheduled to graduate and receive degrees. But neither will be commissioned as officers because the military has not yet developed a policy to accept them.
Coincidentally, the military's most famous transgender service member, Pvt. Chelsea Manning, was released May 17 from Army prison; her 35-year sentence for a massive leak of classified information to Wikileaks was commuted in January and shortened to seven years by then-President Obama.
A study last year by the RAND Corp, commissioned by the Pentagon, found that transgender troops would have a “minimal impact on readiness and healthcare costs.”
Researchers from the nonprofit group estimated there are as many as 6,000 transgender troops among the 1.3 million on active duty.
Expanding the pool of candidates for military service improves fighting effectiveness, said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, an organization that researches sexual orientation in the military.
He said the repeal in 2011 of “don’t ask, don’t tell, the policy that prohibited gay and lesbian troops from serving openly, has made the military better.