White House To Detail Ban On Transgender Troops, Give Mattis 6 Months To Implement: Report

The White House is expected to send the Pentagon a memo on how to implement a ban on transgender troops within the next few days, the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday. Officials told the Journal that the White House will order an end to new transgender recruits, a spending freeze on medical treatment for transgender troops currently serving, and will give Defense Secretary James Mattis the authority to consider a service member's ability to deploy when deciding whether to remove them from military service. Mattis will reportedly have six months to figure out how to implement the plan. President Donald Trump first announced the ban in a series of tweets on July 26, taking the Pentagon by surprise and drawing sharp criticism from Democrats and LGBT activists.