SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Men and women who serve in the Armed 
Forces make great sacrifices for the Nation and for 
freedom. 
(2) The Nation takes great pride in the integ-
rity of members of the Armed Forces and places full 
faith and confidence in these men and women serv-
ing in the Armed Forces. 
(3) The Nation should extend such full faith to 
the integrity of those men and women when they 
make claims for disability compensation related to 
their service. 
(4) In the spirit of the Armed Forces’ pledge 
never to leave a man behind, the Nation should 
never leave a veteran behind. 
(5) Military service is inherently dangerous and 
stressful whether during peacetime or during war. 
(6) Post-traumatic stress disorder (referred to 
in this section as ‘‘PTSD’’) is a debilitating mental 
health condition linked to military service that the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs should make every ef-
fort to diagnose and effectively treat. 
(7) It is recognized in the medical community 
that PTSD can onset at anytime after a traumatic 
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event, and the course of the disorder can contain pe-
riods of both relapse and remission. 
(8) Denial by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
of claims for disability compensation for PTSD due 
to incomplete military records does a disservice to 
those who have honorably served the country. 
(9) Military records that would validate such 
claims may have been lost due to no fault of the vet-
eran. 
(10) Due to the dangerous and fast-paced envi-
ronment in which the members of the Armed Forces 
operate, not every significant and possibly traumatic 
incident in the life and service of each member is 
chronicled accurately or completely. 
(11) Evaluations for disability compensation for 
PTSD often place veterans under the additional 
hardship of reliving traumatic events by describing 
them to unfamiliar medical professionals. 
(12) According to the Institute of Medicine and 
representatives of certain veterans’ service organiza-
tions, evaluations for pension and disability com-
pensation for PTSD are sometimes completed in as 
little as 20 minutes, despite recommendations of the 
mental health community that evaluations should 
take place over a period of one hour or more. 
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(13) The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commis-
sion, established pursuant to title XV of the Na-
tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
2004, issued recommendations to improve the care, 
compensation, and treatment of veterans diagnosed 
with PTSD, including updating the schedule for rat-
ing disabilities under section 1155 of title 38, 
United States Code, establishing new criteria for the 
diagnosis and treatment of PTSD, and using a ho-
listic approach to treat veterans with PTSD that in-
corporates treatment, compensation, and vocational 
assessment. 
SEC. 3. STANDARD OF PROOF FOR SERVICE-CONNECTION 
OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. 
(a) STANDARD OF PROOF.—Section 1154 of title 38, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(c) The Secretary shall accept as sufficient proof of 
service-connection of post-traumatic stress disorder al-
leged to have been incurred in or aggravated by service 
in the active military, naval, or air service a diagnosis of 
post-traumatic stress disorder by a mental health profes-
sional together with a written determination by the profes-
sional that such disorder is related to the veteran’s service, 
if consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hard-
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ships of such service, notwithstanding the fact that there 
is no official record of such incurrence or aggravation in 
such service, and, to that end, shall resolve every reason-
able doubt in favor of the veteran. Service-connection of 
post-traumatic stress disorder may be rebutted by clear 
and convincing evidence to the contrary. In the case of 
such a rebuttal, the Secretary shall make all documents 
related to the service-connection of the veteran’s disability 
available to the veteran.’’. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (c) of section 1154 
of title 38, United States Code, shall apply with respect 
to any claim for disability compensation under laws ad-
ministered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for which 
no final decision has been made before the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. IMPROVEMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-
FAIRS EVALUATIONS OF CLAIMS RELATING 
TO POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER. 
(a) CERTIFICATION
AND TRAINING
FOR CERTAIN 
EMPLOYEES.— 
(1) CERTIFICATION PROGRAM.— 
(A) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—The Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs shall require covered 
employees to successfully complete a certifi-
cation program established by the Secretary. 
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Such program shall include a periodic recertifi-
cation requirement. 
(B) COVERED EMPLOYEES.—For the pur-
poses of this paragraph, a ‘‘covered employee’’ 
is an employee of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs who is responsible for rating disabilities, 
evaluating claims for disability compensation 
for post-traumatic stress disorder, or adjudi-
cating disability compensation ratings. 
(C) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The cer-
tification program under subparagraph (A) 
shall— 
(i) provide specialized training on the 
psychological and medical issues (including 
comorbidities) that characterize individuals 
with post-traumatic stress disorder and 
give guidance on how to appropriately 
manage commonly encountered problems in 
evaluating and rating such disorder; and 
(ii) incorporate the recommendations 
contained in the Best Practice Manual for 
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 
Compensation and Pension Examinations 
issued by the National Center for Post- 
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