At the Center for Investigative Reporting, Aaron Glantz dug deep into the widespread recordkeeping errors and lapses that are bedeviling the VA’s disability claims system and making it difficult for veterans of Vietnam, the Gulf wars, and the war in Afghanistan to prove they were in combat, exposed to harmful substances, or even injured. A few days later, ProPublica and The Seattle Times published a similar investigation, which focuses most on more recent conflicts.
According to Glantz, “A Center for Investigative Reporting review of the VA’s performance data reveals chronic errors – committed in up to 1 in 3 cases – and an emphasis on speed over accuracy that clogs the VA system with appeals, increasing delays for all veterans.”
A few more numbers from Glantz’s work:
- “The VA acknowledges it makes mistakes on 14 percent of disability claims.”
- “A CIR analysis of 18 audits published this year by the VA’s inspector general shows the problem could be much worse, especially in high-profile cases. The analysis found a 38 percent average error rate for claims involving disabilities like traumatic brain injury and illnesses linked to the Vietnam-era defoliant Agent Orange.”
- One internal VA document … shows that during the first three months of 2008 … the agency failed to perform its duty to assist in nearly 11,000 cases.
Likewise, the Seattle Times/ProPublica reporters write that military historians found that “at least 15 brigades serving in Iraq at various times from 2003 to 2008 had no records on hand. The same was true for at least five brigades deployed to Afghanistan.”
Records were so scarce for 62 more units that served in Iraq and 10 in Afghanistan that they were written up as “some records, but not enough to write an adequate Army history.” This group included most of the units deployed during the first four years of the Afghanistan war.
