text: Protesters listen to speakers at a demonstration against a proposed ban of transgendered people in the military in the Castro District, Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in San Francisco. Demonstrators flocked... (Associated Press) 
   
   WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military will continue to permit transgender individuals to serve openly until Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has received President Donald Trump's "direction" to change the policy and figured out how to implement it, America's top military officer said Thursday. 
   
   In a memo to all military service chiefs, commanders and enlisted military leaders, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "there will be no modifications" to current policy for now, amid questions about Trump's announcement on Twitter that the U.S. government will not "accept or allow" transgender people to serve in any capacity in the military. 
   
   "I know there are questions about yesterday's announcement," Dunford began, adding that nothing would change until the president's direction has been received by Mattis and Mattis has issued "implementation guidance." 
   
   "In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect," Dunford wrote. "As importantly, given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions." 
   
   The Dunford statement suggests that Mattis was given no presidential direction on changing the transgender policy. Mattis has been on vacation this week and has been publicly silent amid questions about Trump's announced ban. His spokesmen declined to comment Thursday. On Wednesday they said the Pentagon would work with the White House and provide revised guidance to the military "in the near future." 
   
   Dunford himself was not aware that Trump was going to announce the ban, a U.S. official said. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter and so spoke on condition of anonymity. 
   
   Trump's announcement caught the Pentagon flat-footed and unable to explain what it called Trump's "guidance." 
   
   "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," the commander in chief tweeted. 
   
   Trump wrote that he had consulted with "my generals and military experts," but he did not mention Mattis, the retired Marine general who recently told the service chiefs to spend another six months weighing the costs and benefits of allowing transgender individuals to enlist. At the time, Mattis said this "does not presuppose the outcome of the review," but Trump's tweets appeared to have done just that. 
   
   The Pentagon has not released data on the number of transgender people currently serving. A Rand Corp. study has estimated the number at between 1,320 and 6,630 out of 1.3 million active-duty troops. 
   
   Criticism for Trump's action was immediate and strong from both political parties. 
   
   John McCain, the Arizona Republican and Vietnam War hero, said Trump was simply wrong. 
   
   "Any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving," he said. "There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train and deploy to leave the military -- regardless of their gender identity." 
   
   Not everyone at the Capitol agreed. 
   
   Rep. Duncan Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said: "It's about time that a decision is made to restore the warrior culture and allow the U.S. military to get back to business." 
   
   Transgender people already in uniform were concerned about what comes next. 
   
   "Everybody is hurt, everybody is scared," said Rudy Akbarian, 26, who is in the military but did not want to identify his branch. 
   
   Trump's sudden declaration appears to halt a decades-long trend toward more inclusive policies on military service, including the repeal in 2010 of a ban on gays serving openly. President Bill Clinton in 1993 began the push to allow gays to serve. In December 2015, President Barack Obama's Pentagon chief, Ash Carter, announced that all military positions would be open to women. Liberalizing policy on transgender troops was the next step. 
   
   Just last week, when asked about the transgender issue at a Senate hearing, Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "I am an advocate of every qualified person who can meet the physical standards to serve in our uniformed services to be able to do so." 
   
   Transgender service members have been able to serve openly since 2016, when Carter ended the ban. Since Oct. 1, transgender troops could receive medical care and start changing their gender identifications in the Pentagon's personnel system. 
   
   Carter also gave the services until July 1 to develop policies to allow people already identifying as transgender to join the military if they meet normal standards and have been stable in their identified genders for 18 months. 
   
   On June 30, Mattis extended the July 1 deadline to next Jan. 1, saying the services should study the impact on the "readiness and lethality of our forces." 
   
   White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had made "a military decision." She said it was his judgment that allowing transgender service "erodes military readiness and unit cohesion." 
   
   Sanders said the "president's national security team was part of this consultation" and that Trump "informed" Mattis of his decision immediately after he made it on Tuesday. ||||| CLOSE President Donald Trump said he will reverse former President Obama's policy that allowed transgender troops to serve openly in the military. USA TODAY 
   
   Protesters gather in front of the White House on July 26, 2017, in Washington, D.C. Trump announced on July 26 that transgender people may not serve "in any capacity" in the U.S. military, citing the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" their presence would cause. (Photo: Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images) 
   
   WASHINGTON – Military leaders sought to reassure transgender troops Thursday that their jobs and health care are safe – at least for now – after President Trump's tweets a day earlier that implied an immediate end to both. 
   
   The Navy offered the most specific guidance, saying no transgender sailors will be discharged and the service will continue to provide health care for them, according to an email obtained by USA TODAY. 
   
   Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, told all the service chiefs in a memo that there will be no changes in transgender policy until Defense Secretary Jim Mattis receives specific direction from the White House. 
   
   Yet administration officials said that guidance may be weeks or even months away. 
   
   White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said there was no timetable to implement Trump's tweets on Wednesday morning that declared transgender troops would not be welcome to serve in any capacity, and that the military would not pay for their medical treatment. 
   
   Military leaders acknowledged the tumult created by those tweets, and that they were blindsided by the announcement. 
   
   The Navy's guidance, which came in an email from Vice Adm. Robert Burke, also acknowledges that Trump's announcement is "causing concern for some of our sailors and that they likely have questions." 
   
   What's more, Burke indicates that Trump's tweets caught military brass unawares. 
   
   Burke notes that the office of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is "working to quickly discern the President's intent." Mattis was on vacation when Trump made his announcement. 
   
   The Defense Secretary, and by extension, the Navy "will not take any personnel actions or change any policy until further guidance from the President is received," Burke wrote, adding that transgender sailors receiving medical care will continue "to receive all necessary medical care" and none would be discharged. 
   
   He concluded by saying, "treating service members with dignity and respect is something we expect from our Sailors at all times." 
   
   Related: 
   
   Trump's decision to ban transgender troops in three tweets left the White House and Pentagon scrambling to determine how to proceed in the immediate aftermath Wednesday. One day later, there has been no formal policy guidance issued from the White House about reversing the policy that started last year under the Obama administration to allow transgender troops to serve openly. 
   
   In July 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter outlined a plan to allow transgender troops to receive treatment that ranges from counseling to hormone treatment to gender reassignment surgery. Before that, those service members could have been discharged for medical reasons. There may be as many as 6,600 transgender troops on the military's active duty force of 1.3 million, according to a RAND Corp. report. 
   
   As civil liberties and LGBTQ groups continue to denounce Trump's decision, the White House has been unable to answer questions about whether transgender service members would be dismissed from the military – even if they are currently deployed to conflict zones such as Afghanistan. 
   
   CLOSE Here is a guide to understanding LGBT terms. Sara Snyder, USA TODAY 
   
   Explaining his rationale on Wednesday, Trump said the U.S. 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." 
   
   Yet any saving Trump hoped to achieve by denying transgender troops medical care will be overshadowed by the cost of replacing them. 
   
   The RAND Corp., a non-partisan think tank commissioned by the Pentagon to study the issue, found that only a few hundred of the estimated 6,600 transgender troops would seek medical treatment in any year. RAND found those costs would total no more than $8 million per year. 
   
   Replacing them transgender troops would likely be far more costly. The Army, for example, is spending $300 million this year on bonuses and ads to recruit 6,000 soldiers. That does not include the money needed to train, equip and pay them. 
   
   Though Trump's tweets said he made the decision after consulting "with my generals and military experts," it remains unclear who took part in those discussions. 
   
   Navy Capt. Greg Hicks declined to comment on whether Trump consulted Dunford on repealing the policy. Those conversations are private and confidential, said Hicks, Dunford’s spokesman. 
   
   Contributing: David Jackson 
   
   Related: 
   
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target: – The US military will continue to permit transgender individuals to serve openly until Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has received President Donald Trump's "direction" to change the policy and figured out how to implement it, America's top military officer said Thursday. In a memo to all military service chiefs, commanders, and enlisted military leaders, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "there will be no modifications" to current policy for now, amid questions about Trump's announcement on Twitter that the US government will not "accept or allow" transgender people to serve in any capacity in the military, the AP reports. "I know there are questions about yesterday's announcement," Dunford began, adding that nothing would change until the president's direction has been received by Mattis and Mattis has issued "implementation guidance." The Dunford statement suggests that Mattis was given no presidential direction on changing the transgender policy. Mattis has been on vacation this week and has been publicly silent amid questions about Trump's announced ban. His spokesmen declined to comment Thursday. On Wednesday they said the Pentagon would work with the White House and provide revised guidance to the military "in the near future." Dunford himself was not aware that Trump was going to announce the ban, a US official said. Trump's announcement caught the Pentagon flat-footed and unable to explain what it called Trump's "guidance." The Navy is in sync with Dunford's direction: In an email obtained by USA Today, Vice Adm. Robert Burke said transgender sailors will not be discharged and will continue to receive medical treatment until the White House issues clear guidance.