Gen. Mark A. Milley, Chief of Staff of the Army
According to a breaking news report just released by Palm Center, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley today (Thursday, April 12) called into question the claim in the Defense Department’s recent report on transgender military service that allowing transgender men and women to serve openly in the military risks undermining cohesion, privacy, fairness and safety.
When asked by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand if he had heard of any problems with unit cohesion arising from open transgender service, Gen. Milley he has received “precisely zero reports” of such problems.
Gillibrand: “Are you aware of any problems with unit cohesion arising … Have you [heard] anything about how transgender service members are harming unit cohesion?”
Milley: “No, not at all. We have a finite number. We know who they are, and it is monitored very closely because I am concerned about that and want to make sure that they are, in fact, treated with dignity and respect. And no, I have received precisely zero reports of issues of cohesion, discipline, morale and all those sorts of things. No.”
Palm Center Director Aaron Belkin said, “It is telling for the Army Chief of Staff to acknowledge there have been ‘zero’ problems with cohesion, discipline or morale just weeks after a DOD report, ostensibly based on months of research, insisted that transgender troops pose a risk to cohesion, discipline and morale.”
The Defense Department report called into question the medical fitness of transgender troops, but the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association and retired U.S. Surgeons General have stated that the Pentagon’s medical data and reasoning are misleading and unpersuasive, according to Palm Center.
