Post-Deployment Screenings Recommended

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For Deployed Civilians to War Zones

State generally requires a medical clearance as a precondition to deployment but has no formal requirement for post-deployment screenings of civilians who deploy under its purview. Our prior work has found that documenting the medical condition of deployed civilians both before and following deployment is critical to identifying conditions that may have resulted from deployment, such as traumatic brain injury. […] To address these matters, we recommended that [...] (5) State develop post-deployment medical screening requirements for civilians deployed under its purview. The agencies generally concurred with these recommendations, with the exception of USAID, which stated that it already had an ombudsman to assist its civilians. USAID officials, however, did not provide any documentation to support the establishment of the ombudsman position. In the absence of such documentation, we continue to believe our recommendation has merit.

Excerpt from HUMAN CAPITAL: Improved Tracking and Additional Actions Needed to Ensure the Timely and Accurate Delivery of Compensation and Medical Benefits to Deployed Civilians GAO-09-1019T | September 16, 2009