May 30, 2024

Warren, Ernst, Khanna, Stefanik Lead Bipartisan Coalition of 24 Lawmakers Requesting GAO Report on DoD Efforts to Protect Service Members from Weapon Blasts

Text of Letter (PDF) 

Washington, D.C. — United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chair of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, as well as United States Representatives Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), both members of the House Armed Services Committee, led a group of bipartisan lawmakers in a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a review the Department of Defense’s (DoD) efforts to identify, prevent, and treat traumatic brain injuries (TBI) related to service members’ exposure to blast overpressure. In the letter, the lawmakers note the uncertainty over DoD’s strategy and plan to address this problem and note that the Department needs to take more urgent action to mitigate blast overpressure and support servicemembers.

TBIs are considered one of the “signature wounds” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They remain a key health concern for service members, with the DoD providing TBI treatment to service members nearly 50,000 times over the course of just three months in 2023. In 2022, the DoD provided TBI treatment over 210,000 times. 

“While the DoD has spent almost $3 billion on TBI research from fiscal year (FY) 2020 to FY 2023, major gaps remain in turning this research into action to better protect service members’ brain health, particularly to mitigate the impact of blast exposure and overpressure on service members,” the lawmakers wrote.

A November 2023 New York Times investigation revealed that troops from artillery batteries who had bombarded the Islamic State with large numbers of artillery rounds in 2016 and 2017 returned home experiencing nightmares, hallucinations, panic attacks, and suicidal ideation, among other symptoms.  The Marines Corps found that for artillery crews, firing a high number of rounds “could result in the artillery community suffering injuries faster than combat replacements can be trained to replace them.”

On February 28, the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee held a hearing on traumatic brain injury and blast exposure care, where Senators raised bipartisan concerns about the need to better protect service members. This hearing made clear that there is uncertainty over DoD’s strategy and plan for implementation.

“The Department needs to take more urgent action to mitigate blast overpressure and support service members. Otherwise, troops will continue to struggle to get the care they need and deserve,” the lawmakers wrote. 

The lawmakers requested the GAO review DoD research on TBI, blast overpressure, and blast exposure as well its efforts to identify those most at-risk for blast overpressure and to protect service members from retaliation for seeking care for TBI.

This letter is also signed by Senators Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Angus King (I-Maine), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Ben Cardin (D-Maine.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Representatives Robert Garcia (D-Calif.),  Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y,), Jared Golden (D-Maine.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Susie Lee (D-Nev.).

Senator Warren has led efforts to measure blast exposure and develop protocols that protect service members:

  • On April 11, 2024, Senators Warren and Joni Ernst introduced the Blast Overpressure Safety Act – bipartisan legislation that would direct the Department of Defense (DoD) to enact a variety of measures to help mitigate and protect service members from blast overpressure. Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Representative Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.
  • In February 2024, Senator Warren led a hearing on the impacts of blast overpressure on American service members and the need for DoD to better protect service members from blast overpressure. 
  • In January 2024, Senators Warren, Ernst, and Tillis sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, asking him to provide updates on steps the DoD is taking to better understand and address the effects of blast exposure on service member mental and physical health during training and operations. 
  • In May 2019, Senators Warren and Ernst introduced the Blast Pressure Exposure Study Improvement Act, which would require more frequent progress reports from DoD regarding the longitudinal study and added two feasibility assessments to the study.
  • Senator Warren introduced an amendment in the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (Sec. 734) that required DoD to establish a longitudinal medical study examining the effects of blast pressure exposure. 
  • In May 2018, Senators Warren and Ernst introduced the Blast Exposure and Brain Injury Prevention Act to improve research on TBIs, speed up the development of therapies to treat TBI, and strengthen DoD’s capacity to track and prevent blast pressure exposure.

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