01 July, 2017
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Friday approved a six-month delay in allowing transgender recruits to join the USA armed forces, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.
Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White says Mattis made the decision Friday.
Mattis' decision endorses an agreement created last week by military service leaders.
In a memo obtained by the Associated Press, Mattis wrote: 'After consulting with the service chiefs and secretaries, I have determined that it is necessary to defer the start of accessions for six months.
Last week military service leaders rejected Army and Air Force requests for a two-year wait, AP reported.
"At a time when we should be focusing on the threats from North Korea, and Putin, and ISIS, we're having to deal with a threat here at home - a domestic threat - of allowing transgenders in our service, which is a real problem because it impacts their readiness, and it's a huge cost for our military", she told Perkins.
Under former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, the military branches had six months - with July 1 as the deadline - to come up with a new policy for new transgender recruits.
A year ago, the United States military started allowing openly transgender troops to serve if they were already enlisted but also started a year-long clock on allowing openly trans men and women to enlist. In 2014, the Williams Institute estimated that there are now at least 10,000 transgender people already serving in the military.
"The military has been reduced to stripping parts from museums, which is why it makes no sense to spend more than a billion taxpayer dollars on new body parts for anyone who joins the military and identifies as transgender".
