A Response to Operation Deep Dive's Interim Report on Veteran Suicide Rates

Abstract: Each year, the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) performs the largest national analysis of veteran suicide rates, the results of which are made publicly available in an annual 
report. The latest report released on Monday, September 19, 2022, documented a decrease in veteran suicides during the most recent years for which mortality data were available. Contemporaneously, America’s Warrior Partnership released a phase I interim report for “Operation Deep Dive,” a suicide and self-injury mortality study among former service members across eight states and five years funded by Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation. This report, which indicates that America’s Warrior Partnership contracted with University of Alabama to obtain state data and Duke University to analyze state-provided death data in phase II, concluded that the combined death rate among former service members is approximately 2.4 times the suicide rate reported by the VA. This report has since made national headlines at major news outlets, suggesting that the VA is underreporting suicide rates among our nation’s veterans. Our viewpoint highlights several limitations of this report in an effort to balance any conclusions drawn