1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Arla Harrell Act . 2. Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) During World War II, the Government carried out a program of testing mustard gas and lewisite exposure on members of the Armed Forces. This program was classified and participating members were threatened with dishonorable discharges and imprisonment if they revealed their participation. (2) On July 12, 1973, a fire at the National Personnel Records Center destroyed more than 16,000,000 official military personnel files. The records affected more than 80 percent of members and former members of the Army who were discharged between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 1960. As a result, due to no fault of their own, veterans who were subjected to testing under the program are unable to rely on a full and complete record of their service to produce proof that they were subjected to such testing. (3) The Armed Forces did not fully acknowledge its role in the program until the last of the experiments was declassified in 1975, 30 years after testing under the program was completed and 2 years after the fire destroyed military records at the National Personnel Records Center. (4) The oath of secrecy was not effectively lifted until 1991, 46 years after the testing was completed, further hampering the ability of veterans to provide proof that they were subjected to the testing. (5) The Department of Veterans Affairs is relying on incomplete information to adjudicate claims, which often provides conflicting data regarding veterans’ mustard gas or lewisite exposure due to recordkeeping failures outside of the veterans’ control. (6) The Department has rejected approximately 90 percent of claims for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs relating to mustard gas or lewisite exposure. (7) Veterans who participated in the mustard gas or lewisite testing were not afforded the same opportunity to provide evidence of their exposure for disability compensation and ought to be afforded