Secrets leaker Manning to begin gender treatments

National security leaker Chelsea Manning can get initial treatment for a gender-identity condition from the military after the Bureau of Prisons rejected the Army’s request to accept her transfer from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to a civilian facility.

A defense official says Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved the Army’s recommendation to keep Manning in military custody and start a rudimentary level of gender treatment. Defense officials have said the Army doesn’t have the medical expertise needed to give Manning the best treatment.

The initial gender treatments provided by the military could include allowing Manning to wear some female undergarments and also possibly provide some hormone treatments.

Previously known as Bradley Manning, the Army private has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the sense of being a woman in a man’s body.