I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1359 
To provide for the reconsideration of claims for disability compensation for 
veterans who were the subjects of experiments by the Department of 
Defense during World War II that were conducted to assess the effects 
of mustard gas or lewisite on people, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 2, 2017 
Mrs. WALORSKI (for herself and Miss RICE of New York) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 
and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To provide for the reconsideration of claims for disability 
compensation for veterans who were the subjects of ex-
periments by the Department of Defense during World 
War II that were conducted to assess the effects of 
mustard gas or lewisite on people, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arla Harrell Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) During World War II, the Government car-
ried out a program of testing mustard gas and lew-
isite exposure on members of the Armed Forces. 
This program was classified and participating mem-
bers were threatened with dishonorable discharges 
and imprisonment if they revealed their participa-
tion. 
(2) On July 12, 1973, a fire at the National 
Personnel Records Center destroyed more than 
16,000,000 official military personnel files. The 
records affected more than 80 percent of members 
and former members of the Army who were dis-
charged between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 
1960. As a result, due to no fault of their own, vet-
erans who were subjected to testing under the pro-
gram are unable to rely on a full and complete 
record of their service to produce proof that they 
were subjected to such testing. 
(3) The Armed Forces did not fully acknowl-
edge its role in the program until the last of the ex-
periments was declassified in 1975, 30 years after 
testing under the program was completed and 2 
years after the fire destroyed military records at the 
National Personnel Records Center. 
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(4) The oath of secrecy was not effectively lifted 
until 1991, 46 years after the testing was completed, 
further hampering the ability of veterans to provide 
proof that they were subjected to the testing. 
(5) The Department of Veterans Affairs is rely-
ing on incomplete information to adjudicate claims, 
which often provides conflicting data regarding vet-
erans’ mustard gas or lewisite exposure due to rec-
ordkeeping failures outside of the veterans’ control. 
(6) The Department has rejected approximately 
90 percent of claims for benefits under laws admin-
istered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs relating 
to mustard gas or lewisite exposure. 
(7) Veterans who participated in the mustard 
gas or lewisite testing were not afforded the same 
opportunity to provide evidence of their exposure for 
disability compensation and ought to be afforded 
unique consideration. 
SEC. 3. RECONSIDERATION OF CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY 
COMPENSATION FOR VETERANS WHO WERE 
THE SUBJECTS OF MUSTARD GAS OR LEW-
ISITE EXPERIMENTS DURING WORLD WAR II. 
(a) RECONSIDERATION OF CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY 
COMPENSATION
IN CONNECTION WITH EXPOSURE
TO 
MUSTARD GAS OR LEWISITE.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs, in consultation with the Secretary of De-
fense, shall reconsider all claims for compensation 
described in paragraph (2) and make a new deter-
mination regarding each such claim. 
(2) CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION DESCRIBED.— 
Claims for compensation described in this paragraph 
are claims for compensation under chapter 11 of 
title 38, United States Code, that the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs determines are in connection with 
exposure to mustard gas or lewisite during active 
military, naval, or air service during World War II 
and that were denied before the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(3) PRESUMPTION OF EXPOSURE.—In carrying 
out paragraph (1), if the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs or the Secretary of Defense makes a deter-
mination regarding whether a veteran experienced 
full-body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite, such 
Secretary— 
(A) shall presume that the veteran experi-
enced full-body exposure to mustard gas or lew-
isite, as the case may be, unless proven other-
wise; and 
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(B) may not use information contained in 
the DoD and VA Chemical Biological Warfare 
Database or any list of known testing sites for 
mustard gas or lewisite maintained by the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs or the Depart-
ment of Defense as the sole reason for deter-
mining that the veteran did not experience full- 
body exposure to mustard gas or lewisite. 
(4) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and not less fre-
quently than once every 90 days thereafter, the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the appro-
priate committees of Congress a report specifying 
any claims reconsidered under paragraph (1) that 
were denied during the 90-day period preceding the 
submittal of the report, including the rationale for 
each such denial. 
(b) DEVELOPMENT OF POLICY.—Not later than one 
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense 
shall jointly establish a policy for processing future claims 
for compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, United 
States Code, that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs deter-
mines are in connection with exposure to mustard gas or 
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lewisite during active military, naval, or air service during 
World War II. 
(c) INVESTIGATION AND REPORT BY SECRETARY OF 
DEFENSE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall— 
(1) for purposes of determining whether a site 
should be added to the list of the Department of De-
fense of sites where mustard gas or lewisite testing 
occurred, investigate and assess sites where— 
(A) the Army Corps of Engineers has un-
covered evidence of mustard gas or lewisite test-
ing; or 
(B) more than two veterans have sub-
mitted claims for compensation under chapter 
11 of title 38, United States Code, in connec-
tion with exposure to mustard gas or lewisite at 
such site and such claims were denied; and 
(2) submit to the appropriate committees of 
Congress a report on experiments conducted by the 
Department of Defense during World War II to as-
sess the effects of mustard gas and lewisite on peo-
ple, which shall include— 
(A) a list of each location where such an 
experiment occurred, including locations inves-
tigated and assessed under paragraph (1); 
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(B) the dates of each such experiment; and 
(C) the number of members of the Armed 
Forces who were exposed to mustard gas or 
lewisite in each such experiment. 
(d) INVESTIGATION AND REPORT BY SECRETARY OF 
VETERANS AFFAIRS.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall— 
(1) investigate and assess— 
(A) the actions taken by the Secretary to 
reach out to individuals who had been exposed 
to mustard gas or lewisite in the experiments 
described in subsection (c)(2)(A); and 
(B) the claims for disability compensation 
under laws administered by the Secretary that 
were filed with the Secretary and the percent-
age of such claims that were denied by the Sec-
retary; and 
(2) submit to the appropriate committees of 
Congress— 
(A) a report on the findings of the Sec-
retary with respect to the investigations and as-
sessments carried out under paragraph (1); and 
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(B) a comprehensive list of each location 
where an experiment described in subsection 
(c)(2)(A) was conducted. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The terms ‘‘active military, naval, or air 
service’’, ‘‘veteran’’, and ‘‘World War II’’ have the 
meanings given such terms in section 101 of title 38, 
United States Code. 
(2) The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-
gress’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, 
the Committee on Armed Services, and the Spe-
cial Committee on Aging of the Senate; and 
(B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
and the Committee on Armed Services of the 
House of Representatives. 
(3) The term ‘‘full-body exposure’’, with respect 
to mustard gas or lewisite, has the meaning given 
that term by the Secretary of Defense. 
Æ 
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