Summary: The Departments of Veterans' Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Defense (DOD) spent more than $121 million during fiscal years 1997 and 1998 to research and investigate the illnesses of Gulf War veterans. DOD spent $112 million of this amount, mostly through its Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses. The results of the research and the investigation efforts are accruing slowly, and basic questions about the causes, the course of development, and the treatments of Gulf War veterans' illnesses remain unanswered. GAO found that the activities of the Office of the Special Assistant are not effectively coordinated with those of the Research Working Group. Also, work was improperly awarded to the Office's support contractors for tasks worth more than $20 million. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Gulf War Illnesses: Basic Questions Unanswered, by Kwai-Cheung Chan, Director of Special Studies and Evaluations, before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans' Affairs, and International Relations, House Committee on Government Reform. GAO/T-NSIAD-00-79, Feb. 2 (nine pages).
