The below letter was penned by Frederic Bertley (NVMM CEO) and William J. Butler (NVMM President) in response to last week’s Washington Post article.

To the Editors of The Washington Post,

Your recent investigation into fraud in the VA disability program raises important issues, but risks stigmatizing veterans at large. Veterans’ disability benefits are not charity, they are earned compensation, promised to those who served our country in the armed forces. As an institution honoring our nation’s service members, we affirm that the overwhelming majority of claimants seek only what they have rightfully earned.

The article’s focus on sensational anecdotes, including false paralysis, blindness, gym surveillance, without proper statistical context suggests a widespread pattern of abuse that does not reflect reality. Such cases are exceedingly rare. Most veterans live with invisible wounds, delayed-onset conditions, and complex medical challenges that science continues to better understand.
The VA disability system was intentionally built on trust, grounded in the principle of giving veterans the benefit of the doubt. When abuse occurs, the answer should not be suspicion, but instead should involve stronger oversight, verification, and an appropriate appeals process. The shortcomings lie in under-resourced systems, not in those who served.

After more than two decades of war, it is unsurprising that millions of veterans are filing claims for earned benefits. Organizations such as the VFW and DAV have worked tirelessly to help veterans navigate the process, and successive VA Secretaries and Congresses have reduced backlogs and expanding coverage for toxic exposure and other presumptive conditions.

If your goal is accountability and reform, we urge future reporting to focus less on sensational fraud and more on the systemic issues, that include backlogs, evidence bottlenecks, and oversight gaps, that delay justice for deserving veterans. By all means, expose inefficiency and waste; but do not undermine trust in those who sacrificed so much for this nation to earn these benefits.

Respectfully,