Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is accused of deliberately obscuring the true human cost of the war with Iran – and potentially depriving benefits from the families of service members killed in the conflict.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) publicly called out the Pentagon for quietly removing recent casualty figures from an internal tracking system and reclassified them under a vaguer category, saying the move was "an ongoing manipulation by the Trump administration to hide the true cost of the war in Iran to the American people," reported MS NOW.
“For the purposes of the VA, for example, when you become a veteran, you get a different pension based on whether or not you are a combat-connected injury, or whether your injury was just in operational service,” Duckworth said, calling the reclassification “a slap in the face to our Gold Star families.”
“We actually have folks who have been killed," she added, "and we have one who is still missing in action, that the Gold Star families now don’t have real answers from the Trump administration as to what has happened to their loved ones."
The Illinois Democrat, an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, plans to introduce the Honoring the Sacrifice of Troops in War Act in the Senate on Thursday, legislation aimed at forcing transparency in how the Defense Department tracks and reports casualties from military operations, and restoring all casualty records tied to Iran operations dating back to Feb. 28.
While the bill is unlikely to get a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, Duckworth says she hopes to win support from GOP colleagues who served in the military themselves.
Early in the conflict, U.S. Central Command regularly released casualty figures under Operation Epic Fury, but after the Pentagon declared that operation over on May 5 despite continued airstrikes, and subsequent casualties, including four deaths and more than 200 wounded, were briefly added to records, removed entirely and blamed on "data disruptions," before reappearing under a new heading: "Overseas Operations."
The Pentagon has also revised earlier press releases identifying fallen soldiers, changing language that once tied their deaths to specific operations.
A Pentagon official defended the changes, saying casualties are now classified as overseas operations "since Operation Epic Fury has concluded," adding that the tracking system is not what determines benefits. But former defense officials describe the reclassification as unusual. "I've never heard of manipulating the operation's name or the operation's category in this way," one told MS NOW.
Duckworth warns the reclassification could affect how veterans and families qualify for benefits, since combat-connected injuries are treated differently than general operational injuries under VA rules.
As of Thursday, 270 troops have been wounded under "Overseas Operations," bringing total injuries from the conflict to 687.
"Our service members deserve the truth and accountability at the very least," Duckworth said. "They don't deserve a commander-in-chief who plays games with their sacrifices."