Transgender Troops in the Military? Pentagon Issues Recommendations to White House

President Donald Trump will have the final say on the military's new policy for transgender troops, Pentagon officials tell CBN News.

Defense Secretary James Mattis will make his recommendations this week to the White House.

But the Pentagon does not plan to announce proposed changes to existing policy, according to an emailed statement from Dana White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman.

"The recommendation will go to the president," White said. "Then he'll decide how we will move forward."

Several federal court rulings prevented the Pentagon from implementing the ban President Trump wanted.

Mattis announced in September that a panel of experts would develop a new policy on transgender service members by Feb. 21. 

Mattis is scheduled to have lunch with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the White House this week.

The new policy will replace rules adopted during the Obama administration that allowed transgender troops to serve openly for the first time. 

President Trump announcement by Twitter in July that he consulted with "generals and military experts."

But the country's highest-ranking general, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, wasn't among those whom Trump consulted, according to emails unearthed Tuesday.