Y 4.G 74/7:G 95/8 FED-DOCS EXAMINING THE STATUS OF GULF WAR RE- HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, RELATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 1, 2004 Serial No. 108-228 Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM DAN BURTON, Indiana TOM DAVIS, Virginia, Chairman CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut RON LEWIS, Kentucky JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee HENRY A. WAXMAN, California JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts DIANE E. WATSON, California STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California C.A. "DUTCH" RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of Columbia JIM COOPER, Tennessee BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont (Independent) MELISSA WOJCIAK, Staff Director DAVID MARIN, Deputy Staff Director/Communications Director CONTENTS Bunker, James A., chairman, Veteran Information Network, Gulf war veteran, Topeka, KS; Derek Hall, Gulf war veteran, United Kingdom; Janet Heinrich, Director, Health Care-Public Health Issues, U.S. Gen- eral Accounting Office; Keith Rhodes, Chief General Accounting Office Technologist, U.S. General Accounting Office; Jim Binns, chairman, Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veteran Illnesses; and Steve Robinson, executive director, National Gulf War Resource Center, Morris, the Right Honorable Lord of Manchester Perlin, Dr. Jonathan B., Acting Under Secretary for Health and Acting Chief Research and Development Officer, Department of Veterans Af- fairs, accompanied by Dr. Mindy L. Aisen, Deputy Chief Research and Development Officer, and Dr. Craig Hyams, Chief Consultant, Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Veterans Af- fairs; Major General Lester Martinez-Lopez, Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, MD, accompanied by Colonel Brian Lukey, Ph.D., Director, U.S. Army Military Operational Medicine Research Program, Fort Detrick, MD; Dr. Robert Haley, professor of internal medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Dr. Rogene Henderson, senior scientist, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute; and Dr. Paul Greengard, Vin- cent Astor professor and head of Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, the Rockefeller University, and Nobel Laureate in Medi- Page Greengard, Dr. Paul, Vincent Astor professor and head of Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, the Rockefeller University, Heinrich, Janet, Director, Health Care-Public Health Issues, U.S. General 47 Martinez-Lopez, Major General Lester, Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, MD, prepared Perlin, Dr. Jonathan B., Acting Under Secretary for Health and Acting 129 Rhodes, Keith, Chief General Accounting Office Technologist, U.S. Gen- 70 Robinson, Steve, executive director, National Gulf War Resource Center, 100 EXAMINING THE STATUS OF GULF WAR REON GULF SEARCH AND INVESTIGATIONS WAR ILLNESSES TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2004 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, EMERGING COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:05 p.m., in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher Shays (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Shays, Turner, Sanders, Ruppersberger and Tierney. Staff present: Lawrence Halloran, staff director and counsel; Kristine McElroy, professional staff member; Robert Briggs, clerk; Jean Gosa, minority assistant clerk; and Andrew Su, minority professional staff member. Mr. SHAYS. Please be seated. Thank you. A quorum being present, the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations hearing entitled, "Examining the Status of Gulf War Research and Investigations of Gulf War Illnesses,” is called to order. Last weekend, in dedicating the World War II monument and celebrating Memorial Day, we acknowledged our profound obligation to those of past generations who made noble sacrifice in the service of liberty. That same duty to remember demands our focus today on another overdue national remembrance. The living warriors of this generation who fought in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm need just one thing written in stone, a sustained commitment to research and treatments for the mysterious maladies and syndromes triggered by battlefield exposures. And they cannot wait 60 years for their deserved testimonial to become a reality. This subcommittee, with oversight purview of the Department of Veterans Affairs [VA], and the Department of Defense [DOD], today convenes our 17th hearing on Gulf war veterans' illnesses. Over the last decade, we followed the hard path traveled by sick Gulf war veterans as they bore the burdens of their physical illnesses and the mental anguish caused by official skepticism and intransigence. It was their determination that overcame entrenched indifference and bureaucratic inertia, their persistence, and a home video of chemical weapons munitions being blown (1) up at |