The top U.S. military officer will not make any changes to the Armed Forces’ policy of allowing transgender servicemembers to serve openly despite what President Donald Trump tweeted July 26, according to the Associated Press.
In a memo sent to all military service chiefs, commanders and enlisted military leaders July 27, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, stated “there will be no modifications” to the current policy until Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has received official direction from Trump and issued “implementation guidance.”
“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 wrote in the memo.
According to the Associated Press, Dunford was unaware that Trump was planning to tweet out a ban on transgender servicemembers and suggested Mattis has been given no presidential direction on changing the transgender policy.
The White House and the Department of Defense have been scrambling to answer questions on the future state of transgender servicemembers since Trump took to Twitter yesterday around 9:00 a.m., tweeting:
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” Trump tweeted. “Our 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.”
