Pentagon still awaiting White House guidance on transgender military ban

ABCNews.com(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon still has not received guidance from the White House since President Trump tweeted that transgender individuals cannot serve in the U.S. military, the Pentagon confirmed Monday.

“What we saw was what amounts to an announcement from the Commander in Chief,” said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis of the series of tweets Trump posted last Wednesday, in which the president said “no transgender individuals” will be allowed “to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”

….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

“We are now in the process of waiting for that to be formally articulated to us in a policy memo. We’ll be standing by to make that happen,” Davis said.

Last week, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a memo to military commanders that “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.”

“We are awaiting formal guidance,” Davis told reporters, adding that the Pentagon had reason to believe they would get a formal direction in writing from the White House.

Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on email
Email
Share on print
Print