thank you. i will now take some questions. >> are there other costs associated with this implementation other than health care? and can you elaborate on the timing issue? secretary carter: with respect to cost, i will mention that peter levine will be here later. the reason they concluded the cost would be minimal is that the medical treatment service members are currently transgender, is fairly straightforward. with respect to assessing new members as i indicated, they will have already completed and been stable in the transition

for a period of not less than 18 months before they can access the medical costs associated with that. with respect to the timetable, implementation, as indicated in the statement, the preparation of the medical guidance to do that, so they all have a standard protocol. given the 90 days to that. the commanders guidance, the chairman and the chiefs asked for 90 days to prepare that commanders guidance and the training guidance. i think that is reasonable. they have begun some of that.

the rest of the time is time to force, which is comparable to the time it takes to train the force with don't ask, don't tell. we do have some experience with this kind of thing. we are following that template. >> the report today that you spoke to, the proposal of the strength and coordination, military coordination with russia in syria, you have been aske been a skeptic about cooperating with russia notarial . given that their motives are different than those of the united states. sec. carter: we have a relationship to make sure there are no incidents and no safety issues as we both operate in neighboring areas. syria. as i have said before, the

russians got off on the wrong foot in cereal. -- in syria. they said they were coming to fight isil and they would assist with the political transition in syria towards a post assad government, put back together and give people the future they deserve. they have not done either of those things. i'm hopeful that they will do both of those things, and i think that's what secretary kerry's talks are all about. we have a channel which is focused on safety. that is a professional working channel befor between us. current follow-up, you are well known to be skeptical of the russians and some of the things their military has done. so really straight up, are you

willing, are you in favor of an expanded effort for military cooperation with the russians? inside syria? most people in this town think that you are not. sec. carter: if the russians would do the right thing in syria, and that is an important condition, as in all cases with russia, we're willing to work with them. that is what we have been urging them to do since they came in. that is the objective that secretary kerry's talks are aimed at. if we can get them to that point, that is a good thing. >> may i follow up on two small items? are you willing to include an effort for the u.s. to begin airstrikes against al nusra echo may i ask you about raqqa, to help urgent are you beyond the ssual discussion of accelerant

to see the syrian air coalition and the other fighters get to raqqa? sec. carter: we are very eager. this is the same group we have been working successfully with. we have been enabling and supporting them. to enable them to take the city, from which external plotting has been conducted by isil into europe and united states and is part of the transit hub from the turkish border down to isil in syria. so that was an important objective. largerame approaches in forces, actually, are the ones

that we plan -- and i was just discussing this with general mcfarlane along with general dunford, those of the forces we are going to position to envelop sil's control of raqqa, and the reason is that it is the self-proclaimed capital of the caliphate of isil and it is important to destroy the isil in iraq and syria. that is necessary. it is not sufficient to avoid all the radicalization and so forth, but it is necessary in order to eliminate the idea that there can be a state based upon that ideology. that is why we are so intent in our campaign against isil on iraq and syria. aqqa asould like to get r

soon as we possibly can, like everything else. >> mr. secretary, a couple questions about what this change will mean for the transgender service members. first, can you verify that military health care coverage will cover all aspects of transition-related care, including gender reassignment surgery? atond, will the pentagon gender identity status to the military equal opportunity i'll policy in the event that a transgender member feels discrimination? sec. carter: the medical standards don't change. transgender, like all other service members, will get all medical care their doctors deem necessary. they will have to do that with, if it is not urgent, subject to the commanders. if they need to be deployed, they need to be deployed. it is normal that if you have a procedure which is not urgent

that ifou have to defer you are being deployed. we will not have a different medical policy for transgender members. our doctors will give them medically necessary treatment according to the protocol determined by the medical that are profession. >> in the policy, trade center status? sec. carter: i do not know the specific answer to that. i assume it is yes, and peter is telling me yes. it stands to reason that we would then, that makes sense. let's see, corey deco corey is not here. call. paul? paul: a follow-up on that question. there has been some debate on whether the military would formerly cover hormone therapy

versus reassignment surgery. will surgery be covered? sec. carter: this is for current serving members. that will be determined by what is medically necessary. that is a decision they make with their physician and the timing of that, like any other non-urgent medical care will be something that the commanders will have a voice in for the simple reason that we, as in this matter and all matters, readiness and deployability are important. >> incoming transition members would not be eligible for the transitional surgery? sec. carter: it depends. nick, someone who is transgender and comes out will need to and be required to have undergone transition and be stable in that

state for 18 months before they can enter the military. u.s. military will not provide that surgery? is that what you are saying? sec. carter: they will not be in the u.s. military at that time. they will not have assessed until after undergoing transition. >> how many transgendered troops have been dismissed by the old policy? and how many -- take theer: let me second part. first, this is my decision. however, we have arrived at the together for the senior leadership of the department. they support this timetable and implementation plan. i actually made some adjustments in it specifically to take into account of some of the desire by some of the chiefs of staff, particularly in the front,

because they needed time for training. i agree to that because i thought that was reasonable. i have a general principle around here, which is important, which is that it is important that the people who have to implement the decision be part of the decision-making. the armed services are going to be the ones who have to implement that. so it is very important that they have been a part of the study, but now they are critical part of implementation because they and i all agree that sibley simplyuse i said before, declaring the military opened a transgender individuals not constitute effective implementation. we have a lot to do and we will , do it together. >> mr. secretary, in light of the events at andrews air force base, are you getting a little fed up about all these false shooter,r an active and the communication issues?

sec. carter: i would not say ."ed up they were not doing it on purpose. i think we have to take these things seriously when they occur. if a mistake was made. it also shows a high degree of readiness and rapidity of response. it does appear that this was mistaken. that this was a drill that was going on that was mistaken for a real event. and response was made and that is something, that has happened before. something we need to pay attention to. we have to minimize the chances of false alarms like that. at the same time, i think it is important to have a reasonable level of awareness of the possibility of this event and what to do. i thought the response was strong and solid.

that is the good news. the bad news is it appears to have been a mistake and we would like to reduce the number of mistakes made. no question about that. david? david: i'm still confused by your answer. someone who is in the military, if he or she is deemed medically -- if a sex change surgery is deemed medically necessary, the military will pay for it. sec. carter: that is correct. now, maybe happens the 18-monthin table, but what happens to a serviceman or woman who joins? they join as a man or woman and then decide at some point after they join that they need -- sec. carter: any medical treatment that is determined to be medically necessary by their doctors will be provided like any other medical treatment.

however, and i emphasize this, this is subject to the normal readiness requirements imposed upon any military service member. david: this is not a one-time offer, this is going to -- our offer is that this is not a taken policy. medically necessary care as determined by doctors, which is appropriate, will be provided to service members as part of our promise about medical care. one more. >> the response from capitol hill is coming. this is the way things work in this electronic age. as the chairman of the house armed services committee has already reacted to your announcement as you are still making it. i could read a tiny bit of the statement and get your response. he says, "this the latest example of the pentagon and president prioritizing politics over policy.

our military readiness is dependent on our troops being medically ready and deployable. the administration needs to assure the congress and the american people that transgendered individuals meet these readiness requirements." sec. carter: the chairman is right to emphasize readiness. that was a key part of our study and will be a key part of implementation. the chairman and other members of the committee, i've heard a variety of opinions on this. some urging us to move faster than we have moved and some wanting, this is very legitimate to understand the effects on readiness, but we kept on principles here. we have a necessity here and we will act upon that. we will do it in a deliberate and thoughtful and step-by-step

manner but it is important that we do it. thank you very much. >> on july 1, 19 76, the smithsonian national air and space is the them opened its door to the public with presidents gerald ford on hand for the dedication. today marks the 40th anniversary of the program, and american his metv is live coverage begins on c-span3. we will see one-of-a-kind aviation and artifacts, including the apollo lunar module, plus live events. learn more as we talk with the

director, general jr jack daly and valerie neal, chair of the museum's space history department. and you can join the conversation. we will be taking your phone calls, e-mails, and tweets. beginning atning 6:00 eastern on c-span3's american history tv. next on c-span, "washington journal" is live. after that, a conference hosted by the national education association. coming up in about five minutes, npr correspondent tom gjelten discusses his book, looking at her american -- how america has transformed following the 1965 immigration act or it then can blackwell -- immigration act. blackwell will discuss how american voters view donald trump during and then giuliana

racialz will discuss discrimination and whether people think the u.s. will receive racial equality in the future. ."w, "washington journal ♪ u.s. capitol complex has 40 much quieted down heading into the fourth of july weekend. there was news coming out of capitol hill, including paul ryan, the speaker, who says there will be a vote on gun legislation and sweet, specifically as part of a broader counterterrorism package are and we will take a vote to prevent suspected terrorists from buying guns. that is next week. also, puerto rico, structuring its debt