Sen. Jack Read (D-RI) is ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) is ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) is ranking member of the of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) is ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel.
Reed, Smith, Gillibrand and Speier have written a letter asking the DoD to show its work which produced Trump's latest ban on transgender personnel.
The letter asks the Pentagon who was on the panel of experts, who they consulted with and if they consulted with the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association or the American Medical Association.
The letter also asks what risks arose since transgender people were allowed to serve openly in the military back in 2016 and how transgender people might affect readiness. The letter requests all specific medical and scientific data supporting the conclusions.
Both Army and Air Force Chiefs of Staff Gens. Mark Milley and David Goldfein said the vice chiefs of staff of each service were on the panel of experts. Milley said during an April 12 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that the panel was led by the DoD Personnel and Readiness Office.
When Mattis released his recommendation to the president he dismissed the RAND study which stated the cost of keeping transgender individuals and new recruits in the military is estimated to cost between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually and that they were able to serve effectively in the military.
Mattis stated the study contained “significant shortcomings” and relied on heavily caveated data to support its conclusions, glossed over the impacts of healthcare costs, readiness and unit cohesion.
The defense secretary did not mention the New England Journal of Medicine study, which came to largely the same conclusions as the RAND study
RAND has responded to Mattis:
RAND stands by the study's research approach, analysis, and findings. In light of recent references to our research, we offer the following points of clarification.
First, it is important to clarify that DoD did not ask RAND to recommend whether or not the ban on transgender personnel should be lifted. Instead, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked RAND to conduct research on seven questions: What are the health care needs of the transgender population? What is the estimated transgender population in the U.S. military? How many transgender service members are likely to seek gender transition-related treatments? What are the costs associated with extending health care coverage for gender transition-related treatments? What are the potential readiness implications of allowing transgender service members to serve openly? What lessons can be learned from foreign militaries that permit transgender personnel to serve openly? Which DoD policies would need to be changed if transgender service members were allowed to serve openly?
Given the complexity of these multi-faceted research questions, RAND assembled a multidisciplinary research team composed of experts in areas including military personnel policy, psychiatry, the military health system, health economics, military readiness, unit cohesion, and lessons learned from previous integration efforts in the military. Most of the members of the team had M.D.s or Ph.D.s, and two members of the research team were combat veterans.
--Agnes Gereben Schaefer, RAND
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Paul Zukfunt and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer all said they didn’t see an issue with transgender people serving as long as they can perform their duties.
Both Milley and Army Secretary Mark Esper said they have not heard of any issues or complaints about transgender people in the military since they have been allowed to serve openly.