FederalDaily - December 21, 2006
Military Database Could Cut PTSD Claim Time
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) could reduce the time it takes to decide a servicemember’s
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) claim with the creation of a database of historical military
service records, a government report said. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) looked at whether
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regional offices were complying with the requirements of the Veterans
Claims Assistance Act (VCAA) and whether VBA could streamline procedures used for obtaining military
service records involving PTSD claims. The report, dated Dec. 12, noted that although VA regional offices
generally comply with VCAA’s requirements, the VBA could take steps to reduce servicemembers’ PTSD
claim processing time. When investigating such a claim, regional offices are able to directly access
and search an electronic library of military records for many Marine Corps veterans—which usually
takes about a day. However, for other branches of the service, they must rely on the U.S. Army and
Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC) to do the research. Many of the records that JSRRC may
search are voluminous, are not stored electronically and must be searched manually, GAO said—and
JSRRC’s average response time to regional office requests approaches one year. To see more, go
to: www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-07-98
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Survey Counts Number of Federal Law Officers
The federal government employs nearly 138,000 law enforcement officers (LEOs), says a new Government
Accountability Office (GAO) report. That’s about three times as many as the New York City Police
Department, which is the largest police department in the United States. In response to a request from
the House Judiciary Committee, GAO on Dec. 19 released a snapshot of how and where law enforcement
officers (LEOs) are employed and distributed throughout federal agencies. Not surprisingly, the Department
of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accounted for 108,324 (79 percent) of
total civilian LEOs—58,489 and 49,835, respectively. Within those agencies, the FBI employs 12,824
LEOs and the Bureau of Prisons lists 34,200 LEOs. Also of note, almost all of the LEOs are authorized
to carry a firearm and most are able to make an arrest. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d07121.pdf
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Bush Calls for Increase in Size of Army, Marines
Speaking at his annual year-end press conference Dec. 20, President Bush conceded U.S. efforts in
Iraq have gone badly and indicated he planned to enlarge an overstretched military. Bush said he has
asked newly installed Defense Secretary Robert Gates to report to him as quickly as possible on plans
to enlarge the size of the Army and the Marine Corps. The president did not say how many troops might
be added, but said he agreed with officials in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill that the military is
stretched too thin. For example, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker said last week he supports
an increase in his service beyond its authorized strength of 512,000, although he used no figures.
Of note, the White House has taken great pains in separating Bush’s statements about expanding
the size of the military with any new, developing strategy for the war in Iraq. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.,
agreed with Bush’s call for growing the military. “I am pleased President Bush has finally
recognized the need to increase the overall size of our military,” said Reed, a West Point graduate
and member of the Armed Services Committee. “I have been calling for such an expansion for several
years.” To see more, go to: http://reed.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=267051
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