Hegseth considers benefits fix for A-bomb test site radiation exposure

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers he is reviewing the possibility of expanding benefits to veterans who were exposed to radiation at atomic bomb test sites in Nevada, a move that could finally grant thousands of Cold War-era service members access to health care and compensation already provided to civilian workers who served alongside them. During a May 12 House Appropriations Committee hearing, Hegseth responded to Rep. Susie Lee of Nevada, who has been pushing legislation to fix bureaucratic rules that have blocked these veterans from receiving benefits under the PACT Act. While Hegseth said he did not yet have all the facts and wanted an internal familiarization review before endorsing changes, he thanked Lee for her advocacy and assured her he was not stalling on the issue.

The Nevada Test and Training Range, which includes the highly classified Area 51 site, spans nearly three million acres of restricted land north of Las Vegas and represents the largest contiguous military training area in the free world. Between January 27, 1951, and September 23, 1992, the site hosted 928 atomic bomb tests, including 100 above-ground detonations during the Cold War era when schoolchildren across America practiced duck-and-cover drills. The federal government acknowledges the site is contaminated and provides Department of Energy civilian workers who served there with lifetime medical care and compensation up to $400,000, but veterans who worked at the same locations have been systematically denied similar benefits.

This issue affects an unknown number of veterans who were stationed at the Nevada Test and Training Range during the decades of nuclear testing, though the exact count remains unclear because many service records from the site remain classified under Cold War-era regulations. The core problem is that the VA requires documentation proving a veteran actually served at the test site before granting benefits, but the Defense Department cannot release that proof due to ongoing classification restrictions. This bureaucratic catch-22 has left veterans unable to access the presumptive exposure benefits that should be available under the PACT Act, even though their civilian counterparts who worked in identical conditions receive full recognition and compensation.

Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs chairman, told Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada at the same hearing that he would work to lift the bureaucratic restrictions blocking VA benefits for service members stationed at the test range. Former Air Force Sgt. Dave Crete, who served at the site and founded The Invisible Enemy advocacy group, has been pressing the government to acknowledge that veterans were present at the contaminated locations as a first step toward securing benefits. Sens. Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto have sponsored the bipartisan Forgotten Veterans Act to address the issue legislatively, with Rosen calling it unconscionable that one government agency recognizes contamination and exposure while another does not.

For disabled veterans, this development represents a potential breakthrough in toxic exposure recognition that mirrors the broader PACT Act expansion. Radiation exposure from nuclear testing can cause cancers, respiratory conditions, and other serious illnesses that qualify for VA disability compensation, but only if the VA acknowledges the exposure occurred. The current situation highlights how classification and inter-agency coordination failures can deny veterans the same protections afforded to civilians, even when both groups faced identical hazards in service to the same mission.

Veterans who believe they may have served at the Nevada Test and Training Range or other atomic test sites should contact a Veterans Service Organization to document their service history as thoroughly as possible, even if official records remain unavailable. While no immediate policy change has been announced, Hegseth's willingness to review the issue and the Joint Chiefs chairman's commitment to addressing the bureaucratic barriers suggest momentum is building. Veterans should also monitor whether the Forgotten Veterans Act advances in Congress, as legislative action may ultimately be required to override the classification obstacles that have blocked benefits for decades.