Federal employees and employees who worked under contract to the U.S.  government in Vietnam are not covered by the Agent Orange Act. To obtain benefits under FECA, claimants must show that   (1) they were employed by the U.S. government, (2) they were injured  (exposed) in the workplace, (3) they have filed a claim in a timely manner,  (4) they have a disabling medical condition, and (5) there is a causal link  between their medical condition and the injury or exposure. Because Information Is Limited, Our Estimate of the Number of Federal and Contract Employees in Vietnam during Wartime Is Imprecise

Many of the agencies we contacted were unable to locate records on  federal and contract workers employed in Vietnam, but on the basis of the  limited data available, we estimated that at least 72,000 civilian employees  and as many as 171,000 may have worked in Vietnam between 1964 and  1974. For the Few Claims Identified, Claimants Faced Many Obstacles, and to Date, Most Claims Have Been Denied

Although Labor’s claims examiners and the insurance carriers we  interviewed had difficulty identifying claims, our review of the claims  identified showed that civilians faced difficulty in pursuing them because  of difficulty obtaining information about the claims process, their former  employers, and their employers’ insurance carriers, and because of  processing delays. Most of the claims they identified were filed in  the past 10 years. Legislative Options Could Ease Access to Benefits for Civilians

If Congress chooses to address this issue, several legislative options could  provide more similar consideration of civilian claims as compared with the  claims of their veteran counterparts and improve civilian access to  workers’ compensation or other benefits. Congress Could Amend the Agent Orange Act to Include Civilians or Set Up a Separate Program for Civilians Exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam

Congress could amend the Agent Orange Act and related legislation that  authorizes benefits for veterans to include civilians. Alternatively, Congress could create a separate program to cover claims  for medical conditions that civilians develop as a result of their exposure  to Agent Orange. Congress Could Amend an Existing Statute to Grant Military Status to Certain Civilians

Congress could amend the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977, which allows  DOD to retroactively grant military status and authorize full VA benefits to  certain civilian groups that support the military during armed conflicts. However, with little data available on the actual number of  civilians in Vietnam, their exposure levels, and the number of claims that  would be filed, it is difficult to estimate the costs of these options. Recommendations for Executive Action

To improve the handling of civilian Agent Orange claims, the Secretary of  Labor should    direct OWCP to assign a unique identifying code to Agent Orange  claims and develop procedures to ensure that these claims are coded  correctly;    provide better oversight of licensed DBA insurance carriers by  requiring the Office of Longshore and Harbor Workers to track the  information it retains on licensed insurance carriers for Vietnam era  employers in an easily searchable format, such as in an automated file,  and track changes in ownership for each licensed carrier in order to be  able to determine liability for payments; and    direct the appropriate offices to provide contract employees with the  information needed to file Agent Orange claims by taking such  measures as posting information on Labor’s Web sites or developing  informational brochures that include information on how to file a claim  under DBA, such as which forms to use, and information on Vietnam  era contractors with the names of their insurance carriers licensed by  Labor. VA also expressed concern about the precedent-setting implications these  options could have for civilian employees involved in other wars and  conflicts since the Vietnam War. As noted in the report, we agree that the  cost and policy implications of these options should be carefully  considered. As these are historical  reports, we were unable to assess the reliability of these data for several  reasons: Most records were not computerized in the 1960s or 1970s, most  paper records have either been destroyed or were not organized in a way  that would facilitate the identification of personnel, and most officials who  were knowledgeable about employees in Vietnam are no longer with the  agency.
Why GAO Did This Study

Concerns about difficulties civilian employees of the U.S. government may have in obtaining workers' compensation benefits for medical conditions they developed as a result of their exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam led to GAO being asked to determine (1) what is known about the number of civilians who served in Vietnam, both those employed directly by the U.S. government and those employed by companies that contracted with the government; (2) what is known about the number, processing, and disposition of claims filed by these civilians; and (3) what options are available if Congress chooses to improve access to benefits for civilians exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam who developed illnesses as a result of their exposure, and what are their cost implications?

What GAO Found

While many federal agencies that were likely employers of civilian federal and contract workers during the Vietnam War had little information on these employees, a few provided us with limited information on federal employees and the amounts of contracts for companies that provided services to the military in Vietnam. We were unable to determine the reliability of the data provided. However, we used these data for the limited purpose of estimating that between 72,000 and 171,000 civilians may have worked for the U.S. government in Vietnam between 1964 and 1974. Our ability to provide more accurate information on the size of this workforce was limited because most agency records maintained during this period were not computerized, and because so much time has elapsed that many paper records have been destroyed and many agency personnel knowledgeable of the period are no longer working at these agencies. For the 32 Agent Orange-related claims identified (12 from federal civilians and 20 from contract employees), we found that these claimants faced many difficulties and delays because of a lack of readily available information on how to file a claim, their Vietnam era employers, and their exposure to Agent Orange, as well as processing delays caused by employers, insurance carriers, and Labor. Both Labor and private insurance carriers had difficulty identifying the number of claims they had received, largely because they do not assign a unique code to Agent Orange claims that would enable easy identification. Most of the claims we identified were filed in the past 10 years, and most have been denied. Denials of the claims stemmed, in part, from the fact that under the laws governing these claims, claimants must demonstrate a causal link between their exposure to Agent Orange and their medical conditions, which is difficult to prove so many years later. If Congress chooses to address this issue, several legislative options could be considered to attempt to improve access to compensation for civilians who were exposed to Agent Orange and developed medical conditions as a result, although they could have significant cost and policy implications. Congress could amend current law authorizing benefits for veterans to cover certain civilians or set up a separate program to cover them. Another option is for Congress to amend the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977, which allows DOD to retroactively grant military status and authorize full VA benefits to certain civilian groups that support the military during armed conflicts. However, it is difficult to assess the potential costs of these options because of the limited data available on the number of civilians and their claims for compensation. Despite the difficulty of assessing the potential costs, before any of these options are pursued, their fiscal impact and the precedent-setting implications for individuals involved in other wars and conflicts since the Vietnam era should be carefully considered.