DOD and VA Expanding Access to Military Toxic Exposure Records
A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report outlines a phased expansion of access that will allow service members—and, for the first time, veterans—to view and request corrections their own toxic exposure records maintained in the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs' Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) system.
Veterans are expected to gain direct access to their ILER by October 2026, while service members will be able to review and request corrections beginning in September—changes that could significantly improve how military toxic exposures are documented for health care and disability claims.
What ILER is—and Why Most People Haven’t Heard of It
The Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) is a secure, web-based system jointly developed by the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to compile a longitudinal history of potential occupational and environmental exposures throughout a service member's career.
ILER integrates information from multiple sources, including deployment history, unit location data, occupational health records, environmental monitoring and sampling, exposure investigations, and other military records. DoD and VA designed ILER as a multi-purpose system to support disability claims adjudication, clinical care, and research by providing clinicians, researchers, and benefits adjudicators with a centralized record of where service members served and the potential occupational and environmental hazards they may have encountered.
Although ILER has existed for years, it has largely operated behind the scenes. Access has historically been limited to authorized government personnel, leaving most service members and veterans unaware that the system even exists.
According to GAO, ILER contained tens of millions of records documenting the service and exposure histories of more than 10 million individuals as of 2021. However, the report notes that many service members and veterans remain unaware of the system because they have never had direct access to view their own records.
Timeline for Expanded Access
GAO’s new report describes a three‑phase rollout of expanded ILER access:
March 2026 – Direct service member access. Active-duty service members with a valid DOD Common Access Card (CAC) gained direct, read-only access to their ILER records through an ILER web portal.
September 2026 – Ability to correct and add data. By September 2026, service members are expected to gain the ability to submit correction requests and self-reported exposure information, including missing deployments, duty locations, or exposure events not reflected in official records.
October 2026 – Veteran access. Veterans are expected to receive access through the VA’s portal, allowing them to view their ILER records and request corrections to their exposure information.
If implemented as planned, these changes will mark the first time veterans have been able to directly review—and help correct—the exposure information maintained by DoD and VA.
What ILER Does—and What it Doesn’t Do
ILER is designed to document potential occupational and environmental exposures—not diagnose medical conditions or determine whether a particular exposure caused a specific illness.
The system records information such as where a service member served, known environmental hazards associated with those locations, available monitoring data, and documented exposure events. Clinicians and VA adjudicators must still evaluate that information alongside medical evidence and other records when making treatment or disability decisions.
GAO also notes that ILER is intended to complement—not replace—electronic health records such as MHS GENESIS and VA's electronic health record system. While those systems focus on clinical care, ILER is designed specifically to organize occupational and environmental exposure information.
The system also integrates information from several existing exposure registries and monitoring programs, helping create a more comprehensive exposure timeline than was previously available through separate databases.
ILER Still Has Limitations
Despite its growing capabilities, GAO cautions that ILER is not a complete record of every military exposure.
Historical deployments—especially those before 2001 and missions with limited environmental monitoring—often have sparse or incomplete data, and some exposure events may never have been documented at all.
For that reason, veterans should view ILER as one source of evidence rather than a comprehensive account of every potential exposure. Other records—including service records, environmental reports, medical documentation, and lay statements—may still be necessary to establish a complete exposure history.
Even so, GAO notes that having a centralized exposure record is a significant improvement over requiring veterans to reconstruct decades-old exposure histories from memory or scattered military records.
What This Means for Service Members and Veterans
For veterans affected by burn pits, contaminated water, industrial pollution, radiation, and other military toxic exposures, expanded access to ILER represents an important step toward greater transparency.
Service members who already have CAC access can begin reviewing their records now and, beginning in September 2026, will be able to submit correction requests or provide additional exposure information if they identify missing or inaccurate records.
Veterans should watch for VA announcements this fall regarding access to the planned veteran portal. Once available, veterans will be able to review the exposure information associated with their military service and submit requests for correction.
While ILER cannot establish medical causation or guarantee eligibility for VA benefits, direct access gives veterans the opportunity to better understand the exposure information maintained by DoD and VA, identify potential gaps, and ensure their records more accurately reflect their military service.
For advocates and organizations working on military toxic exposures, GAO's timeline also provides a clearer roadmap for helping veterans locate and review one of the federal government's most important exposure databases.