In addition to VA’s better known missions—to provide health care and benefits to veterans and medical research and education— VA has a fourth mission: to provide medical backup to DOD in times of war and civilian health care backup in the event of disasters producing mass casualties. Medical Recordkeeping and Surveillance During the Gulf War Was Lacking

Investigations into the unexplained illnesses of service members and veterans who had been deployed to the Gulf uncovered the need for DOD to implement an effective medical surveillance system to obtain comprehensive medical data on deployed service members, including Reservists and National Guardsmen. The council concluded that the Gulf War exposed many deficiencies in the ability to collect, maintain, and transfer accurate data describing the movement of troops, potential exposures to health risks, and medical incidents in theater. Despite the department’s progress, we and others have reported on DOD’s implementation difficulties during Operation Joint Endeavor and the shortcomings in DOD’s ability to maintain reliable health information on service members. Specifically, these officials informed us that DOD is in the process of developing a more accurate roster of deployed service members and enhancing its information technology capabilities.
What GAO Found

The Departments of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) are establishing a medical surveillance system for the health care needs of military personnel and veterans. The system will collect and analyze information on deployments, environmental health threats, disease monitoring, medical assessments, and medical encounters. GAO has identified weaknesses in DOD's medical surveillance capability and performance during the Gulf War and Operation Joint Endeavor. Investigations into the unexplained illnesses of Gulf War veterans uncovered many deficiencies in DOD's ability to collect, maintain, and transfer accurate data on the movement of troops, potential exposures to health risks, and medical incidents during deployment. DOD has several initiatives under way to improve the reliability of deployment information and to enhance its information technology capabilities, though some initiatives are several years away from full implementation. The VA's ability to serve veterans and provide backup to DOD in times of war will be enhanced as DOD increases its medical surveillance capability.