Broken country back together and give the people the future they deserve. They havent done either of those things. So i think im still hopeful that they will do both of those things, and i think thats what secretary kerrys talks which are very frequent with the russians are all about. But meanwhile, we have a channel which is focused on safety issues and we maintain that. Thats a very professional working channel between us. I can follow up on that and ask you something else. To follow on phils question, youre well known to be skeptical of the russians and some of the things that their military has done. So really straightup are you willing are you in favor now of an expanded effort for military cooperation with the russians inside syria . Because most people in this town think you are not. If the russians would do the right thing in syria thats an important condition as in all cases with russia, were willing to work with them. Thats what weve been urging them to do since they came in. Thats the objective that secretary kerrys talks are aimed at. And if we can get them to that point, thats a good thing. But may i follow up on two small items. Are you willing to include an effort for the u. S. To begin air strikes against al nusra . And may i also ask you about raqqa. As the world has watched whats happened in istanbul, how urgent now are you, beyond the usual discussion of accelerants, to see the Syrian Air Coalition and the other fighters get to raqqa because theyre very, very eager to get to raqqa. This is the same group that weve been working successful with as they have been successful, weve been enabling and supporting them in to envelope and take which they will from isil the city of manbidge which like raqqa is not as well known but it is a city from which external plotting has been conducted by isil in to europe, and in to the United States, as well and was part of the transit hub from the Turkish Border down to isil in syria. That was an important objective. Those same forces and that same approach or really the same approach and some Larger Forces actually are the ones that we plan and i just was discussing this with the generals the other day those are the forces that we are going to position to again envelope and collapse isils control of raqqa. The reason i want to do that, barbara, as soon as possible is that raqqa is the selfproclaimed capital of the selfproclaimed caliphate of isil, and its important to destroy isil in iraq and syria because thats absolutely necessary. It is not sufficient to avoid all kinds of radicalization and so forth, but it is necessary in order to eliminate the idea that there can be a state based upon that ideology. Thats why we are so intent in our military campaign against isil on iraq and syria. We would like to get raqqa as soon as we possibly can. Like everything else. Mr. Secretary, couple of questions about what this change will mean for the Transgender Service members. First can you verify that the military Health Care Coverage will cover all aspects of transition related care, including general reassignment surgery. Second, will the pentagon add gender identity or transgender status to the military equal opportunity policy in the event that a Transgender Service member feels like they are experiencing discrimination. The answer is the first one is the medical standards dont change. The transgender individual, like all other Service Members, will get all medical care their doctors deem necessary. Theyll have to do that with their subject to if it is nonurgent medical care, subject to their commanders. Because if they need to be deployed, they need to be deployed and its normal that if you have say a procedure which is not urgent that you have to defer that if youre being deployed. Were not going to have any different medical policy for Transgender Service members than others. Our doctors will treat them, give them medically necessary treatment according to the protocols that are determined by the medical profession. Will you add transgender status to the meo . I dont know the specific answer to that. I certainly assume the answer is yes. Peter is telling me yes, that certainly stands to reason, that we would. That makes sense. Paul. I wants to follow up on that question. So theres been some debate on whether the military would only cover hormone therapy versus covering full reassignment surgery. So will reassignment surgery be covered . This is for currently serving members. Again, thats going to be a matter that the doctors will determine in accordance with what is medically necessary. Thats a decision that they make with their physician and the timing of any treatment of any kind, like any other nonurgent medical care, will be something that their commanders will have a voice in for the very simple reason that we, in this matter, as in all matters, readiness and deployability are critical. Tom . Mr. Secretary, if i could follow up very quickly. You said current Service Members. So incoming Service Members who are transitioning would not be eligible for that transitional surgery . It depends, mick. If 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. But the u. S. Military will not provide that surgery. Is that what youre saying . They wont be in the u. S. Military at that time because they wont have accessed until they have undergone transition. Tom . Two questions for you, if i could. How many transgender troops have been dismissed under the old policy . And, also, im wondering why chairman dunford isnt here to discuss this policy since it affects the uniform military ill take the second part first. This is my decision. However, i have we have arrived at it together, the Senior Leadership of the department. They support this timetable and this Implementation Plan, as i indicated, i actually made some adjustments in it specifically to take into account some of the desire by some of the chiefs to have a little more time on the front end, particularly for commanders in training guidance. I agreed to that because i thought that was reasonable. I have a general principle around here which is very important, which is that its important that the people who have to implement decisions be part of the decision making. The service of the Armed Services are the ones that are going to have to implement that. So it is very important that theyve been part of this study. But now theyre a critical part of implementation because they and i all agree, as i said before, that simply declaring the military open to transgender individuals does not constitute effective implementation. We have work to do and well do it and well do it together. Mr. Secretary, in light of the events this morning at Andrews Air Force base, are you getting a little fed up about all these false alarms for an active shooter . And why the Communications Problems this morning . I wouldnt say fed up. Because i think we have to take these things seriously when they occur. Im sure that if a mistake was made mere or if somebody inadvertently did, they didnt do it on purpose. It also shows a high degree of readiness and rapidity of response. It does appear, based on information i have at this moment, that this was mistaken and that this was a drill that was going on that was mistaken for a real event. And a response was made. And that is something. Because it has happened before. That i think we need to Pay Attention to how to minimize the chances of false alarms like that. At the same time, i think its important to have a reasonable level of awareness, of the possibility of this kind of event and what to do. And i thought the response was strong and solid. So thats the good news. The bad news is it appears to have been a mistake and wed like to reduce the number of mistakes made in this way. No question about it. Mr. Secretary, im still confused by your answer to micks question. Someone who is already in the military, if he is he or she is deemed medically if sex change surgery is deemed medically necessary, the military would pay for it. Thats correct. What happens now and then you explained the 18month stable before you come in. What happens to a service man let me check our wire again. Were going to pull away from the pentagon. Im Brooke Baldwin live in istanbul, turkey, just before 9 00 p. M. You have been listening to historic news by defense secretary ash carter who announced this massive moment in the United States, the pentagon lifting the ban on transgender troops from serving openly in the u. S. Military effective immediately. Secretary carter laid out a list of reasons, and among them qualified and talented americans willing to serve their country should not have to serve in fear. He says one general noted that as an army they are sworn to protect and die for the principle that all people are equal. And so in turn, those in uniform should be willing to live with that very principle. Secretary carter says he is proud of the yearlong review of this issue, that he is proud of all servicemen and women, he announced an Implementation Plan in stages over the course of the next 12 months including immediate guidance and training for current Service Members. This move today removes one of the final barriers to military service for any individual, and it comes five years after the administration ended dont ask, dont tell, which allowed gays, lesbians and bisexuals to serve openly. Again, just want to underscore this here. This historic moment. The pentagon lifting the ban on transgender troops serving openly. Let me bring in cnn military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel lick francona. What are your initial thoughts on secretary carters decision . Well, were talking about a very small group of people serving in the military. But the secretary has opened up a big can of worms here in the implementation of this. I think thats evident from the number of questions he was getting on how were going to do this. I think sweeking inspeaking as officer, i think most Service People have no problem serving with those who are qualified as long as standards dont change. Thats always been the big issue. But the implementation of this is going to take a long time to smooth out. I think one of the questions is very key here. I think the secretarys trying to make some distinctions that dont exist. He said if you come in to the military you cant come in until you have had your gender stable for 18 months. Theres no way to tell that. You can walk into a recruiting office and be in the military in very short order. Then once in say, oh, by the way, im transgender and youre already in. These are the kinds of things that have to be worked out. Thats an education process. But as far as men and women serving in the military, just like with the lifting of the ban on gays and lesbians, bisexuals, this, too, shall pass. It will be assimilated and the force will accommodate. Yeah. It sounded to me as though he was saying putting a finite point on the transition 18 months after the stability is established, anyone should and will be able to serve. Colonel francona, thank you so much for that. Lets move on and talk about the fact that we are at the ataturk airport in turkey thats become the scene of one of the worst terror attacks in recent memory. We are now being told a series of coordinated bombings was likely led by isis. An attack that was extremely well planned, according to isis leaders. This comes to us at cnn from a senior turkish government source. We also have new video here that adds yet another layer of horror to this attack that killed 43 people. Before we play it for you, i just have to warn you, it is graphic to watch. But in the video you can see a man reportedly it is an undercover officer as he apparently asks one of these suicide bombers to show his i. D. The man then in the video turns and shoots the officer. These suicide bombers, were told, traveled to turkey from raqqa in syria. Raqqa, is the unofficial capital of isis, the stronghold. Came in to turkey here, in to istanbul about a month ago, bringing along with him the suicide vest and bombs used in the attack. It is in istanbul that they rented an apartment, one of them leaving behind his passport, that then led investigators to another piece of this puzzle here where these attackers are from. From everything we have here today weve gotten a lot of developments. My colleague, ivan watson, cnns Senior International correspondent with me here inside the airport. Begin with what we know. We dont have i. D. S specifically on these bombers but we know what russia, kurdistan, uzbekistan . Thats correct. Turkish government officials telling us that the three bombers are a citizen of russia, a citizen of kyrgyzstan, and uzbekistan. Weve reached out to the kyrgyz government and theyre pushing back on that. But the turkish government saying the explosive vests were bout in across the Syrian Border almost a month ago. Apartment where these men were believed to have been living where a russian passport was found is in a neighborhood thats not that far from where we are right now, brooke. Really. Maybe a couple miles drive from here as the crow flies. Just indicates how easily people can live below the radar here in turkey. Now important to note, the turks have been carrying out raids. Both here in istanbul at a number of different locations, detaining about 13 people, and in the turkish port city of ismi ruch ismir, detaining at least nine people there. That shows theyre looking across the country as a possible network that could have supported these suicide bombers. You are an american but you lived in istanbul for 12 years. You have flown, i can only imagine, innd a o and out of th airport so many times. We talked about how isis has targeted Foreign Tourists but this time feels different. Why . Because. In the past isis is believed to have attacked Foreign Tourists and horrific casualties, kurds and leftists. The turkish government is fighting a war against militants from the ethnic kurdish population. So in turk tiish kind of mental, a lot of turks might have looked at this as attacks on others, not against us. Thats over. By attacking this airport, the vast majority of the wounded, the casualties, are turks. Ethnic turks. Theyre going to see this very much as an attack on themselves and that suggests, if in fact that isis carried out this attack, that theyve declared war on the rest of turkey, on the turkish state, even though they have been attributed to bombings that have killed more than 100 people since last year. Well talk about the significance of the istanbul target, airport. Ivan, thank you so much. Ivan watson here in front of the airport. The number of People Killed at ataturk airport, 11th Busiest Airport in the world, death toll has risen to 43. 43 People Killed as they arrived here to set out on new at ventures or perhaps returning home. Some just waiting in the airport for loved ones, and others airport staff simply at work doing their jobs. Today there are several funerals taking place for those innocent souls who were slaughtered in this airport. For that lets go to cnns matt rivers who attended one of those funerals. Matt, tell me about the victim. Brooke, there is no such thing as a funeral that isnt sad but the funeral that we attended today this morning was incredibly poignant and incredibly sad because of who was being mourned there. There were four people that were being mourned. Three of them were sisters. A 24yearold, a 16yearold, and a 14yearold. The fourth person that was being mourned was an 8yearold who was the niece of all three of those sisters. That was one big family traveling from saudi arabia here to turkey to visit family. There was eight of them in total. They had exilted tted the airpo waiting for a cab outside one of the terminals. All of a sudden there was an explosion. We spoke to the father and grandfather of some of the people there. He said he heard the explosion, ran over but it was too late for those four people. So we went to that funeral today along with dozens of other people from this area. We had a chance to speak very briefly with the father of that 8yearold girl. He has in saudi arabia when he got the call that his 8yearold girl had been killed in this attack. We spoke to him right before the funeral began. Heres a little bit of what he had to say. Before she go, she hug me. She told me, father, come with us. I tell her i tell her that i will come. If you wanted people to know something about your daughter, what would you want people to know about her . She was a very lovely. Shes very lovely. Very lovely. The entire time we were talking, he had his hand on her casket. That was right in exto hi ne him. He was standing vigil at his daughters casket, moving his hand back and forth very gently. Watching it in the moment, it reminds you of that kind of paternal instinct of just taking your hand and running it petting your daughters head. Just running it down her hair. It was incredibly poignant. I dont even know if he knew he was doing it. But you could feel his pain. You could feel his sadness. And everyone around there was affected. That is what youre seeing across this city after this attack. Funeral after funeral after funeral with families going through that exact same kind of pain that we saw at that funeral this morning, brooke. Fatherly instinct. Child gone way too soon. Matt rivers, thank you for sharing that story. It is important to honor the lives lost here at the airport. Reminder, too, 94 people are still being treated in the hospital. All these stories here in istanbul coming up next here on cnn. A couple on their honeymoon trapped inside of this airport during the attack. They lived to tell their emotional story about what they saw. You will hear from them. Also ahead graphic new video showing one of the attackers shooting someone, reportedly a Security Officer checking his i. D. Where that moment fit into the timeline. And bre