The Department of Defense and the military services improperly released service member personnel records 49 times between fiscal 2021 and 2025, affecting more than 1,000 service members, the Government Accountability Office reported, while request backlogs grew under staffing strain. In a covert test, GAO submitted 26 records requests; of the 18 processed, one was improperly released without redaction of personally identifiable information.
The delays match the leaks. Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act requests are generally meant to be processed within 20 business days, but Navy officials told GAO that having a single employee processing FOIA requests contributed to average processing time rising from 1.6 days to 55.5 days during the review. Health records are harder still: the Defense Health Agency must pull them from multiple legacy data systems built over three decades, and GAO found the department has not assessed that framework for ways to streamline it.
GAO made five recommendations, including workforce planning analysis for each service so that records staffing matches request volume, and an assessment of the health records systems. The department generally concurred.
The report matters beyond records hygiene. Service records underpin veterans’ claims, security clearances and employment checks, so improper release creates identity and litigation exposure while delay denies members documents they need, a combination that turns an administrative backlog into a readiness and trust issue.