VCS Releases Dozens of New VA Reports Obtained Using FOIA

September 9, 2009, Washington, DC – According to government reports obtained exclusively by Veterans for Common Sense (VCS), more than 250 new, first-time Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran patients flood into Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and clinics every day. In the eight years after 9/11, VA has treated and diagnosed more than 425,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans at VA facilities, an average of 258 new, first-time patients every day. 

While the press and public are often focused on the more than 5,000 deaths from the two wars, a tidal wave of wounded, injured, and ill continue flooding into VA, with no end in sight.  Beginning today, VCS starts publishing official VA reports obtained by VCS using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) at our web site. 

Our effort to obtain documents about VA is our second major FOIA campaign.  In our first FOIA campaign that began in 2002, VCS teamed up with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to force the Administration to release documents about torture, as profiled on August 30, 2009, in The New York Times.

In our second FOIA campaign that began in 2006, VCS sought to determine the human and financial costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  After nine months of delay and denial, VA released the reports only after a threat of litigation.  For the first time, VCS posts nearly all of the documents we obtained from VA using FOIA.  VCS remains the only non-profit with a full-time FOIA campaign targeting VA, the government's second largest agency with an expected budget of $113 billion and more than 270,000 employees.

The long-term human and social consequences from these two wars remain enormous, and much more work still needs to be done so our veterans stop falling through the cracks at VA and experiencing long delays to access healthcare and disaiblity benefits.  Both wars continue undermining our domestic economic recovery and further increasing the Federal budget deficit.  VA reports reveal the crisis goes far beyond the military, as the wars are impacting millions of veterans, their families, and local communities, as VA struggles to treat more than 425,000 new patients and process more than 405,000 disability claims from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Our primary goal in releasing this critical new information is to prompt more national and local media coverage about veterans’ needs so decision-makers in Washington - the Administration, Congress, and the Courts - act in the best interests of our veterans. 

FOUR LANDMARKS OF VCS FOIA CAMPAIGN ABOUT VETERANS

1.    VCS Uses FOIA for ABC News Special with Bob Woodruff

VCS used FOIA documents to assist Bob Woodruff, the ABC TV News anchor seriously wounded in Iraq, with his February 2007 news special, “To Iraq and Back.”  VCS revealed how, at the time, the military reported only 20,000 battlefield casualties, while VA reported more than 200,000 new, first-time patients from the two wars.  These facts helped explain the unconscionable delays faced by soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and elsewhere around the country as they transitioned to veteran status and VA care.

Since then, many more reporters, veterans, non-profits, researchers, and legislators contacted VCS to obtain VA statistics and documents regarding the healthcare use and disability claim activity of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.   In November 2007, the CBS Evening News worked with VCS to uncover the tragic suicide epidemic among our veterans.  Similarly, in November 2008, VCS was interviewed by the PBS News Hour for a news segment about the escalating suicide epidemic among veterans.

Our unique FOIA research contributed to a recent article in the New York Times (“Veterans Affairs Faces Surge of Disability Claims,” James Dao, July 12, 2009).  Our research shows the consequences of VA inaction are dire, and even fatal. 

2.    VCS Used FOIA in Landmark Lawsuit

Our second significant effort using FOIA was our landmark lawsuit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth v. James Nicholson, who was, in July 2007, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, www.veteransptsdclassaction.org.  

Documents obtained from VA using FOIA were combined with VA’s own internal reports posted on their web site, Congressional testimony, and Government Accounting Office investigations to prepare our legal complaint. Our lawsuit is currently under appeal. 

3.    Experts Used VCS FOIA Documents for Book, The Three Trillion Dollar War

Our third major effort using FOIA was to assist Harvard University Professor Linda Bilmes and Columbia University Professor Joseph Stigliz, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics in estimating the human and financial costs of caring for our veterans in their seminal book, The Three Trillion Dollar War (2008).  The authors wrote:

Untangling the costs of the war has not been easy, and it would not have been possible without the help of many.  The fact that so much of the data and information that should have been publicly available was meant that some critical pieces of information have had to be obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  We thank Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense, who helped us to understand the situation facing returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and who provided us with crucial data from the Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs obtained under FOIA.

4.    VCS Publishes FOIA Documents

Our fourth major effort begins today as VCS begins posting scores of VA documents to our web site.  The VA reports were obtained exclusively by VCS using FOIA, something we encourage reporters to replicate.  We want the world to know the tragic and expanding human costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, especially on our U.S. military and veterans. The sobering facts will shock most Americans shielded from the true costs of eight years of war.

 VA reports reveal these facts about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars:

- 1,893,284 Deployed to a war zone as of February 2009
- 1,101,971 Discharged from the military and are now eligible for VA healthcare and disability benefits as of February 2009

VA Healthcare Use Among Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans:

- 425,538 total veterans were diagnosed and treated at VA as of December 2008 – nearly 200,000 were diagnosed by VA physicians with one or more mental health condition
- 100,692 new veteran patients were treated between November 2007 and December 2008, an average of 258 new, first-time patients every day

VA Disability Claim Activity Among Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans:

- 405,022 total veterans who filed disability compensation claims against VA as of February 2009
- 103,868 veterans who filed claims between February 2008 and February 2009, an average of 290 new, first-time disability claims every day

As the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars continue, VCS estimates:

- 1,000,000 total number of veterans treated by VA
- 1,000,000 total number of veterans filing disability claims against VA
- Up to $1,000,000,000,000: Total healthcare and benefits costs over 40 years

Conclusion

     Since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and all of the resulting harms to soldiers, civilians, economies and constitutional principles, no segment of society has been more abused and neglected than returning U.S. military veterans --- Houston Chronicle editorial, December 14, 2008

As the two wars continue, VA's crisis of delays due to increased demand by veterans continues.  As an advocacy organization, VCS encourages veterans who need care to use VA.  We also believe VA must be ready, willing, and able to provide care so no veteran ever waits for healthcare or benefits.  At VCS, we don’t believe in a no-win scenario for our veterans.  We thank our members and donors for their support of our FOIA campaign to determine the human costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Paul Sullivan is the Executive Director of Veterans for Common Sense.  Lauren Hohle is a FOIA research intern at VCS.