II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2368 

To establish an online significant event tracker (SET) system for tracking, 

reporting, and summarizing exposures of members of the Armed Forces, 

including members of the reserve components thereof, to traumatic 

events, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2014 

Mr. BROWN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To establish an online significant event tracker (SET) system 

for tracking, reporting, and summarizing exposures of 

members of the Armed Forces, including members of 

the reserve components thereof, to traumatic events, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairman Significant 

5 Event Tracker (SET) Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to implement a significant 

3 event tracker (SET) system to train and enable members 

4 of the Armed Forces, including members of the reserve 

5 components thereof, to track exposures to traumatic 

6 events and address mental health issues during and after 

7 service. 

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) UNIT COMMANDER DEFINED.—The term 

11 ‘‘unit commander’’ means the first individual in the 

12 chain of command with authority over the member 

13 concerned under the Uniform Code of Military Jus14 tice. 

15 (2) REPORTABLE EVENT.—The term ‘‘report16 able event’’ includes— 

17 (A) a kinetic combat patrol; 

18 (B) witnessed loss of life, dismemberment, 

19 or significant physical injury in a combat oper20 ation, expeditionary operation, or peacetime 

21 regular training; 

22 (C) an injury or exposure that may con23 stitute a traumatic brain injury (TBI), includ24 ing a concussive or mechanical event involving 

25 the head that occurs in a combat operation, exVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:39 May 28, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2368.IS S2368

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1 peditionary operation, or peacetime regular 

2 training; 

3 (D) victimization or witnessing of a sexual 

4 assault; and 

5 (E) any other event determined by the Sec6 retary of Defense to be potentially traumatic to 

7 an affected individual. 

8 (3) RESERVE COMPONENT.—The term ‘‘reserve 

9 component’’ means a reserve component of the 

10 Armed Forces named in section 10101 of title 10, 

11 United States Code. 

12 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO IMPLEMENT SET SYSTEM. 

13 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe 

15 regulations to implement the significant event tracker sys16 tem described under section 5 (in this Act referred to as 

17 the ‘‘SET system’’). 

18 SEC. 5. SIGNIFICANT EVENT TRACKER (SET) SYSTEM. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Defense 

20 shall establish a SET system to track, report, and summa21 rize individual exposures to traumatic events for the pur22 pose of enabling former members of the Armed Forces, 

23 including members of the reserve components thereof, to 

24 show evidence of possible traumatic events incurred during 

25 their service. 


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1 (b) RECORDING OF EVENTS.— 

2 (1) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

3 (A) UNIT COMMANDERS.—A unit com4 mander may enter reportable events that affect 

5 the entire unit and its members or delegate to 

6 a leader of a subunit of the unit commander’s 

7 command the entry of reportable events affect8 ing the subunit. 

9 (B) INDIVIDUAL REPORTING.—A unit com10 mander may choose to delegate event reporting 

11 to the individual members of units who are em12 ployed as short-term, temporary (less than 30 

13 days) detachments and individual augments 

14 which, by the nature of their mission, preclude 

15 the persistent inclusion in one common review16 ing unit. The delegation may be until a pre17 determined date such as the end of a deploy18 ment or on a 30-day basis, as determined by 

19 the unit commander. 

20 (C) MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITY.—A 

21 medical treatment facility may directly enter a 

22 reportable event affecting a member of the 

23 Armed Forces undergoing treatment at such fa24 cility for an injury sustained in connection with 

25 the event. 


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1 (D) MILITARY LAW ENFORCEMENT.—Mili2 tary law enforcement may directly enter a re3 portable event involving victimization or wit4 nessing of a sexual assault. 

5 (E) REPORTING OF OUTSIDE INCI6 DENTS.—The Secretary of Defense shall issue 

7 guidance regarding the entry of reportable 

8 events involving members of the Armed Forces 

9 that occur while in duty status outside of mili10 tary installations and are initially reported to 

11 local non-military law enforcement or non-mili12 tary medical treatment facilities. 

13 (2) INCLUDED INFORMATION.—Each entry for 

14 a reportable event shall include the following infor15 mation: 

16 (A) Name, date, location, and unit. 

17 (B) Duty status. 

18 (C) Type of event. 

19 (D) Whether a physical injury was sus20 tained as a result, and if so, the extent of such 

21 injury. 

22 (E) Other information as required by the 

23 Secretary of Defense. 

24 (c) VERIFICATION OF EVENTS.— 

25 (1) EVENTS REPORTED BY INDIVIDUALS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—A reportable event en2 tered by an individual member under subsection 

3 (b)(1)(B) shall be reviewed by the unit com4 mander for purposes of verifying, contesting, or 

5 denying the event. 

6 (B) VERIFICATION TOOLS.—In reviewing 

7 reportable events under subparagraph (A), the 

8 unit commander shall use all available 

9 verification tools, including Department of De10 fense reports, unit logs, reports from creditable 

11 witnesses such as patrol leaders, and any other 

12 evidence deemed appropriate by the unit com13 mander. 

14 (C) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary of Defense 

15 shall issue guidance designed to ensure that en16 tries submitted to a unit commander for review 

17 are handled accurately and in a timely fashion 

18 while recognizing the challenges posed by oper19 ational tempo and competing time demands. 

20 (2) EVENTS REPORTED BY THE UNIT COM21 MANDERS OR DELEGATES.—Reportable events en22 tered by a unit commander or delegate under sub23 section (b)(1)(A), other than reportable events in24 volving victimization or witnessing of a sexual as25 sault, shall be submitted directly to the respective 


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1 unit’s commanding officer for review under sub2 section (d). Reportable events involving victimization 

3 or witnessing of a sexual assault shall be submitted 

4 directly to the secure central tracking database 

5 under subsection (e). 

6 (3) EVENTS REPORTED BY MEDICAL TREAT7 MENT FACILITIES.—Reportable events entered by 

8 medical treatment facilities under subsection 

9 (b)(1)(C) shall be submitted directly to the secure 

10 central tracking database under subsection (e). 

11 (4) EVENTS REPORTED BY MILITARY LAW EN12 FORCEMENT.—Reportable events entered by military 

13 law enforcement under subsection (b)(1)(D) shall be 

14 submitted directly to the secure central tracking 

15 database under subsection (e). 

16 (d) COMMAND REVIEW.— 

17 (1) AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY.—The 

18 commanding officer shall have responsibility for re19 viewing and determining the disposition of a report20 able event involving the member submitted pursuant 

21 to paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (c), other than 

22 a reportable event involving victimization or wit23 nessing of a sexual assault, and submitting the event 

24 and such determination to the secure central track25 ing database under subsection (e). 


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1 (2) DISPOSITION.—The commanding officer 

2 shall, in accordance with guidance issued by the Sec3 retary of Defense, assign to each such reportable 

4 event one of the following designations: 

5 (A) Approved, in the case of clear docu6 mentation and verification of the facts and the 

7 individual’s exposure. 

8 (B) Approved/Contested, in the case of 

9 clear documentation and verification of the oc10 currence of the event, but where the com11 manding officer has reasonable doubt for ap12 proval of the reportable event. 

13 (C) Denied/Contested, in the case of ques14 tionable documentation or verification, but 

15 where the commanding officer has reasonable 

16 doubt for denial of the reportable event. 

17 (D) Denied, in the case of no clear evi18 dence of the facts or the member’s exposure. 

19 (3) NON-REMOVAL OF DESIGNATION.—Each re20 portable entry reviewed under this subsection shall 

21 be entered into the secure central tracking database 

22 and may not be removed or deleted, regardless of 

23 designation. 

24 (e) SECURE CENTRAL TRACKING DATABASE.— 

25 (1) STORAGE OF INFORMATION.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—All reportable events 

2 shall be submitted to a secure central tracking 

3 database, either indirectly pursuant to sub4 section (d), or directly pursuant to paragraph 

5 (3) or (4) of subsection (c) or, in the case of 

6 a reportable event involving victimization or 

7 witnessing of a sexual assault, paragraph (2) of 

8 subsection (c). The database shall serve as the 

9 central repository for all reportable events relat10 ing to a member of the Armed Forces, includ11 ing for purposes of preparing the member’s offi12 cial SET record upon separation from service. 

13 (B) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION.— 

14 (i) CLASSIFIED AND SENSITIVE OPER15 ATIONS.—The secure central tracking 

16 database shall include measures to ensure 

17 that information related to classified and 

18 sensitive operations is coded so as to docu19 ment the event without violating oper20 ational security concerns. 

21 (ii) SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES.—The 

22 secure central tracking database shall in23 clude measures to ensure that information 

24 related to sexual assault cases in the se25 cure central tracking database is coded in 


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1 order to protect privacy and to correctly 

2 reflect the status, and protect the integrity, 

3 of ongoing investigations. 

4 (iii) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INDI5 VIDUAL RECORDS.—An individual mem6 ber’s complete SET record and individual 

7 entries may not be reviewed by the mem8 ber’s unit commander or the chain of com9 mand, and may not be used by anyone for 

10 the purpose of evaluating promotion, reen11 listment, or assignment issues. 

12 (C) USE BY MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILI13 TIES.—Medical treatment facilities shall be pro14 vided access to the secure central tracking data15 base for purposes of entering reportable events 

16 under subsection (b)(1)(C) and consulting for 

17 diagnoses. 

18 (D) USE BY MILITARY LAW ENFORCEMENT

19 AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE SERVICES.— 

20 Military law enforcement and criminal inves21 tigative services shall be provided general access 

22 to the secure central tracking database for pur23 poses of entering reportable events under sec24 tion (b)(1)(D) and to a limited summary for 

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1 lated to crimes committed inside their jurisdic2 tion. The summary shall not include specific in3 formation about events, evidence, or individual 

4 members, including private personal informa5 tion such as names and social security numbers. 

6 (E) ACCESS TO INDIVIDUAL RECORDS FOR

7 PURPOSES OF MILITARY AND NON-MILITARY

8 DISCIPLINARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.— 

9 An individual member’s complete SET record 

10 and individual entries may, with the explicit 

11 consent of the member, be reviewed, evaluated, 

12 and shared with— 

13 (i) in the case of a military discipli14 nary or judicial hearing or proceeding, the 

15 member’s military and civilian legal rep16 resentative or representatives, unit com17 mander, or military judge for the purpose 

18 of addressing concerns related to such 

19 hearing or proceeding; and 

20 (ii) in the case of a non-military dis21 ciplinary or judicial hearing or proceeding, 

22 the member’s civilian legal representative 

23 or representatives for the purpose of ad24 dressing concerns related to such hearing 

25 or proceeding. 


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1 (F) UNIT COMMANDER REVIEW.— 

2 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

3 in clause (ii), unit commanders may only 

4 view individual pending entries that have 

5 been submitted to them for review and des6 ignation, and may not view previous en7 tries that have already been reviewed and 

8 designated. 

9 (ii) ADMINISTRATIVE ACCESS.—Unit 

10 commanders may only access entries that 

11 have already been reviewed, designated, 

12 and entered into the secure central data 

13 base by that individual commander in 

14 order to correct roster entries for subunits, 

15 provide additional post-incident docu16 mentation, or take such other administra17 tive actions as may be determined appro18 priate by the Secretary of Defense. In no 

19 instance may such access permit the re20 moval of any entry, regardless of designa21 tion. 

22 (G) STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND EVALUA23 TION OF UNIT COMMANDERS.— 

24 (i) INFORMATION SHARING.—The Sec25 retary of Defense shall issue guidance govVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:39 May 28, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2368.IS S2368

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1 erning the sharing of SET entry statistics 

2 among unit commands and other Depart3 ment of Defense individuals, offices, activi4 ties, and agencies for purposes of ana5 lyzing the number and types of entries 

6 generated over time. Information so shared 

7 may not include specific information about 

8 events, evidence, or individual members, in9 cluding private personal information such 

10 as names and social security numbers. 

11 (ii) EVALUATION ON UNIT COM12 MANDERS.—Unit commanders may not be 

13 evaluated by their superiors for the num14 ber and types of entries generated by their 

15 command, but may be evaluated by their 

16 superior officer in the chain of command 

17 for the speed and accuracy of their entries, 

18 and the review of their entries. 

19 (H) ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS ON AC20 CESS.—No non-Department of Defense agen21 cies, organizations, or individuals, such as vet22 erans’ service organizations, local law enforce23 ment, judicial courts, or civilian medical treat24 ment facilities, shall be granted access to the 

25 secure central tracking database. Department 


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1 of Defense medical officers may only review an 

2 individual member’s entire SET record for the 

3 medical purposes set forth in subsection 

4 (e)(2)(A) and such other purposes as may be 

5 determined appropriate by the Secretary of De6 fense. 

7 (2) DISTRIBUTION AND CONTROL.— 

8 (A) PRE-DISCHARGE.— 

9 (i) MEDICAL RETIREMENTS.—In the 

10 case of a member of the Armed Services 

11 preparing for medical retirement due to in12 jury or other conditions, the official SET 

13 record shall be provided to and used by the 

14 Medical Evaluation Board or Physical 

15 Evaluation Board. 

16 (ii) NON-MEDICAL DISCHARGES AND

17 RETIREMENTS.—In the case of a member 

18 of the Armed Services preparing for a non19 medical discharge or retirement, the offi20 cial SET record shall be reviewed by the 

21 medical officer of the member’s parent unit 

22 and serve as the basis for any follow-on ac23 tions as determined by the medical officer. 

24 (iii) BENEFITS DELIVERY AT DIS25 CHARGE CLAIMS.—In the case of a member 


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1 of the Armed Services initiating a Benefits 

2 Delivery at Discharge (BDD) claim, the 

3 BDD Specialist shall be provided with the 

4 official SET record in order to file a fully 

5 developed claim for the member. 

6 (B) UPON DISCHARGE.—Upon a member’s 

7 separation from service in the Armed Forces, 

8 including a member of a reserve component 

9 thereof, copies of the member’s official SET 

10 record, including a compilation of all reported 

11 events and a summary prepared by an author12 izing agent with cleared access to the secure 

13 central tracking database, shall be distributed 

14 in accordance with the procedures of the mili15 tary service in which the individual served, in16 cluding copies to the following recipients: 

17 (i) The separating member. 

18 (ii) The separating member’s Service 

19 Personnel File. 

20 (iii) The Department of Veterans Af21 fairs, and if specifically designated by the 

22 member, the veteran affairs agency of the 

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1 ganization as may be designated by the 

2 member. 

3 (f) SEXUAL ASSAULT PROVISIONS.— 

4 (1) REPORTING TO MILITARY CRIMINAL INVES5 TIGATIVE UNITS.—A unit commander shall notify 

6 the appropriate military criminal investigative serv7 ice of any reportable event involving the victimiza8 tion or witnessing of a sexual assault that is either 

9 entered or verified by the unit commander or a dele10 gate under subsection (b)(1)(A) or (c)(1), respec11 tively, but shall not provide the reportable event 

12 entry to the military criminal investigative service 

13 without the consent of the victim or witness report14 ing such event. 

15 (2) TREATMENT OF FALSE STATEMENTS AND

16 REPORTS.—The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe 

17 regulations regarding the disposition of reportable 

18 events based upon deliberately filed false statements 

19 or reports related to victimization or witnessing of a 

20 sexual assault. The regulations shall provide that an 

21 appropriate authority designated by the Secretary of 

22 Defense shall amend the relevant official SET record 

23 of the member filing the false statement or report to 

24 reflect the falseness of such statement or report. 


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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated out of funds 

3 available to the Department of Defense such sums as may 

4 be necessary for fiscal year 2015 and fiscal years there5 after to carry out activities under this Act. 

6 SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

7 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as limiting the 

8 ability of current and former members of the Armed 

9 Forces to provide documentation other than the SET 

10 record, including handwritten statements, for purposes of 

11 appealing, documenting, or presenting evidence related to 

12 post traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury 

13 claims. 

Æ 


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