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GAO-26-107161 1 (December 10, 2025)

handle is hein.gao/eggg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Why This Matters Key Takeaways The Coast Guard, a military service within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for various missions including ports, waterways, and coastal security; drug interdiction; and search and rescue. In carrying out the Coast Guard's missions, some of its approximately 55,000 active duty and reserve service members may become injured or ill. The Coast Guard's disability evaluation system (DES) determines whether injured or ill members are medically fit to perform their duties and, if not, whether they are eligible for certain disability benefits. The Coast Guard opened about 140 DES cases in 2024. Section 11243 of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Pub. L. No. 117-263, 136 Stat. 2395) contains a provision for us to review the Coast Guard's DES. This report examines the DES process, its timeliness goals and challenges in meeting them, and the extent to which the Coast Guard has applied leading practices for program monitoring to this process. Since 2020, the Coast Guard and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have been implementing a new integrated disability evaluation system (integrated DES). The integrated DES combines the Coast Guard and VA disability evaluation processes and is designed to expedite benefits determinations. Members evaluated under the legacy disability evaluation system (legacy DES) file claims for VA disability compensation through a separate process. The Coast Guard has set timeliness goals for both the legacy and integrated DES. However, Coast Guard officials said they face challenges in meeting the goals due to insufficient staffing, difficulty obtaining complete medical records, and a rise in member rebuttals and appeals of fitness for duty and disability rating decisions. The Coast Guard is taking some steps to monitor progress toward legacy and integrated DES timeliness goals. However, it has not fully applied leading practices for program monitoring. The leading practices include establishing a balanced set of goals that cover all program priorities, such as decision accuracy, and developing a plan for monitoring progress toward Coast Guard goals. Page 1 GAO-26-1 07161 Coast Guard Disability Evaluation Page 1 GAO-26-107161 Coast Guard Disability Evaluation