Image copyright Reuters Image caption Pte Manning has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria 
 
 The US military will begin treatment for US document leaker Chelsea Manning for her gender-identity condition. 
 
 Defence secretary Chuck Hagel has approved gender treatment for Pte First Class Manning, who was formerly known as Bradley. 
 
 The move came after the bureau of prisons rejected the Army's request to transfer her from a military facility. 
 
 She is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified files to Wikileaks. 
 
 Pte Manning has been diagnosed by military doctors with gender dysphoria, the sense of one's gender being at odds with the sex assigned at birth. 
 
 Following her conviction in July 2013 on 20 charges in connection with the leaks of military and diplomatic documents, Pte Manning requested treatment including hormone therapy, and to be allowed to live as a woman. 
 
 'Transgender issues' 
 
 A lawyer for Pte Manning threatened in May to sue the Army if she was not given sex change therapy in military prison. 
 
 Nancy Hollander argued the military had an obligation to treat the soldier's "transgender issues", and she would not be safe if transferred to a civilian prison for treatment there. 
 
 Ms Hollander told the BBC that Pte Manning had not suffered harassment at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, even though her fellow inmates knew she was transgender. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Pte Manning changed her name from Bradley in April 
 
 In April, a judge granted her petition to change her name legally from Bradley to Chelsea, and according to a court filing by Pte Manning's legal team, a military doctor at Fort Leavenworth had approved a treatment plan by November 2013. 
 
 The US military is required to offer medical treatment to its soldiers, but Pentagon policy prohibits transgender people from serving openly in the military. 
 
 Pte Manning will not be discharged from the military until she has finished her prison term. 
 
 Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said earlier the policy on transgender service members should be "continuously reviewed" but has not said whether he believes the policy should be overturned. 
 
 A previous study by the Palm Center estimated there were 15,000 transgender US military members and 130,000 veterans. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bureau of Prisons has rejected the Army's request to accept the transfer of national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning from the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to a civilian facility where she could get better treatment for her gender-identity condition. The military will instead begin the initial treatment for her. 
 
 FILE - In this undated file photo provided by the U.S. Army, Pfc. Chelsea Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick. The Bureau of Prisons has rejected the Army’s request to accept the transfer... (Associated Press) 
 
 Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved the Army's recommendation to keep Manning in military custody and start a rudimentary level of gender treatment, a defense official said Thursday. The initial gender treatments could include allowing Manning to wear some female undergarments and also possibly provide some hormone treatments. 
 
 The decision raises a number of questions about what level of treatment Manning will be able to get and at what point the private would have to be transferred from the all-male prison to a female facility. 
 
 Manning has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the sense of being a woman in a man's body. Civilian prisons can provide treatment, and the Defense Department has argued repeatedly that it doesn't have the medical expertise needed. As a result, the Army tried to work out a plan to transfer Manning to a federal prison. 
 
 Officials said Thursday that federal authorities refused the proposal. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly by name. 
 
 Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he was encouraged that the Army will begin medical treatment. 
 
 "It has been almost a year since we first filed our request for adequate medical care," Coombs said. "I am hopeful that when the Army says it will start a 'rudimentary level' of treatment that this means hormone replacement therapy." 
 
 If hormone therapy is not provided, he said he will have to take "appropriate legal action to ensure Chelsea finally receives the medical treatment she deserves and is entitled to under the law." 
 
 In May Coombs had also contended that civilian prisons were not as safe as military facilities. 
 
 In a statement, he had said, "It is common knowledge that the federal prison system cannot guarantee the safety and security of Chelsea in the way that the military prison system can." 
 
 The Army sends an average of 15 to 20 prisoners a year to civilian prisons. But Manning's appeals have not been exhausted, she's still in the military and her case is of national security interest. Those are factors that normally could prevent a transfer. 
 
 According to a complaint filed by Manning, she asked that a treatment plan consider three types of measures: "real life experience," a regimen in which the person tries dressing and living in the new gender; hormone therapy, which changes some physical traits such as breast and hair growth; and sex reassignment surgery. Manning has not publicly said whether she wants surgery, and the proposed plan was not released. 
 
 Manning's treatment request was the first by a transgender military inmate, and it set up a dilemma for the department of how to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy. 
 
 The former intelligence analyst was sentenced in August for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses for giving WikiLeaks more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents, along with battlefield video, while working in Iraq in 2009 and 2010. 
 
 After the conviction, Manning announced the desire to live as a woman and legally changed her name to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning from Bradley Edward Manning. 
 
 Manning cannot be discharged from the service while serving her 35-year prison sentence. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Michelle Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
– The private formerly known as Bradley Manning is about to become the first person ever given gender reassignment treatment by the US military. The federal Bureau of Prisons has rejected the Army's request to transfer Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison, and defense officials say Manning will instead receive "rudimentary" gender treatment while in military custody, reports the AP, which notes that initial treatments could include allowing Manning to wear female undergarments. It's not clear when or if Manning will be transferred from an all-male prison to a female one. "It has been almost a year since we first filed our request for adequate medical care," Manning's lawyer says. "I am hopeful that when the Army says it will start a 'rudimentary level' of treatment that this means hormone replacement therapy." The treatment will raise a few issues for the military, the BBC notes. The Pentagon bans transgender people from serving openly, but Manning will not be discharged from the military until she finishes her sentence. She was sentenced to 35 years for passing classified documents to WikiLeaks and will be eligible for parole in about six years.