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1 1 (October 20, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/goveerh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Servdce 0 October 20, 2021 COVID-19 Impact on Access to Military Service Records Servicemembers and other constituents may require access to military service records for many reasons, including providing proof of service to obtain government benefits. During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many federal agencies moved from on-site work to remote work status for the safety and health of employees. This shift impacted the workflows of the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA's) National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), three agencies involved in processing veterans benefits claims. VA has continued to process benefits claims, albeit at a slower pace and with delays. The NPRC reported that its employees were often unable to retrieve materials due to the vast majority of records being in paper form and requiring in-person access. This challenge led to backlogs in processing various VA claims and also led veterans, Veterans Service Organizations, and many Members of Congress to push for the digitization of military service records. This In Focus provides information on the interaction of DOD, VA, and NPRC on records processing; quantifies the records request backlog and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on request responsiveness; and outlines administrative and legislative efforts to resolve the issue. Locating Records at DOD, VA, and N PRC DOD, VA, and NPRC may hold relevant records for servicemembers and veterans, and the age of the record determines where the record is stored. The transfer of records between agencies and subsequent storage locations can have implications for locating materials needed to process veterans' benefits. Generally, records created fewer than 62 years after the servicemember's separation from the military are under the purview of the DOD and sometimes VA. NARA takes custody of, or accessions, servicemember records more than 62 years old via the NPRC. The NPRC is the central repository for the federal government's military and civil service personnel-related records. The NPRC stores these documents permanently in accordance with the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. Chapters 21, 29, 31, and 33) and holds more than 4 million cubic feet of records, of which only 10% are digitized. Duty to Assist and Accessing Records VA has an obligation to assist veterans in developing their claims for benefits through Duty to Assist (38 U.S.C. §5103A and 38 C.F.R. §3.159) provisions in federal law. The concept of Duty to Assist can apply to accessing records from either federal or nonfederal entities. This obligation is typically used to assist a veteran filing a claim for disability compensation, disability pension, health care, or burial, among other VA benefits. Nonfederal entities can include current or former employers and private medical care providers. For a veteran's military personnel records, the federal entities most often involved are DOD or NPRC. Generally, DOD and NPRC will scan the records and send them to VA as they work to adjudicate a veteran's claim. Request Backlog In a letter dated December 9, 2020, from the Archivist of the United States to Congress, NARA states that in a typical year the NPRC responds to 1.2 million records requests, most of which were completed within 10 days. Prior to the pandemic, NPRC reported that it could respond to about 6,300 requests from VA per week; during the pandemic, NPRC said it responded to an average of 2,500 VA requests per week. Public reference records requests are those received by NPRC from veterans, servicemembers, and other constituents, whereas claims-specific records requests are those submitted by VA to NPRC. As of November 30, 2020, the Archivist indicated that the backlog totaled 381,000 public reference records requests, and in September 2020, the backlog of claims-specific records requests numbered 80,000. As of August 5, 2021, VA noted that the backlog had increased to roughly 500,000 pending public reference records requests. However, as of the same date, VA's collaboration with NPRC (discussed below) had reduced the claims-specific records request backlog to 8,000. COVID-19's Effect on NPRC Staffing and Records Processing In March 2020, NPRC closed due to COVID-19, keeping minimal staff on site to complete emergency requests. In October 2020, staff began to return to in-person work to process more requests, but on November 7, 2020, NPRC again closed due to a spike in COVID cases among staff. Following a gradual restoration of on-site staff, during the spring and summer of 2021, NPRC increased on-site staffing levels to 45% of its workforce, effective October 18, 2021. Complicating the efforts to reduce the backlog of records requests is that the majority of records requested from NPRC are in paper form. As a result, staff must physically retrieve materials on-site and may not be able to maintain social distance. Digital service records, approximately 10% of NPRC's records, are limited in scope and are generally ittps://Crsreports.congress.gt

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