Flying Blind: How Can We Make Good Policy Without Good Data?
As an advocate, I spend an incredible amount of time looking for data.
Not opinions.
Not talking points.
Not press releases.
Data.
How many Veterans live in a congressional district?
How many surviving spouses live in a particular state?
How many receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC)?
How many are over the age of 65?
How many live in rural counties?
How many reside in each congressional district?
Those seem like straightforward questions.
Unfortunately, they often aren't.
Veterans Are Counted. Families...Not So Much.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has made tremendous progress in publishing data about Veterans. The National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics provides projections of Veteran populations by state, county, and congressional district that are updated on a regular basis.
When it comes to military families, however, the picture becomes much less clear.
For surviving spouses, much of the publicly available information is several years old, limited in scope, or available only as national totals. For example, one of the VA's publicly available DIC recipient datasets is still based on Fiscal Year 2022 data, even though its metadata was refreshed in 2026.
If you're trying to answer questions like:
How many surviving spouses live in Texas today?
How many live in Tarrant County?
How many live in the 25th Congressional District?
How have those numbers changed since COVID?
The answers are surprisingly difficult to find.
Good Policy Requires Good Data
Every time Congress debates legislation affecting Veterans or surviving families, someone eventually asks:
"How many people does this affect?"
That is a reasonable question.
The problem is that advocates are often forced to answer using data that may already be several years out of date.
COVID changed almost everything.
People relocated.
Veterans passed away.
New surviving spouses entered the system.
Others remarried or became ineligible for certain benefits.
Populations shifted dramatically.
Yet in many cases, the public data available to advocates still reflects a pre- or early post-COVID picture rather than today's reality.
Data Isn't Just for Researchers
Current data helps everyone.
Congress can better estimate the impact of proposed legislation.
State governments can identify where services are needed.
Veterans Service Organizations can determine where to focus outreach.
Researchers can identify trends before they become crises.
Advocates can speak with confidence instead of estimates.
Most importantly, military families can know they are being seen.
We Shouldn't Have to File FOIAs (and pay for)for Basic Statistics
I understand that individual records must remain private.
No one is asking for names or personal information.
But aggregate statistics should not be difficult to obtain.
We should be able to answer basic questions like:
How many DIC recipients live in each state?
How many live in each county?
How many live in each congressional district?
What are the age distributions?
How have those numbers changed over time?
These are planning questions, not privacy questions.
Better Data Means
Better Decisions
This is not about criticizing the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.
In fact, both agencies collect enormous amounts of information, and the VA has significantly expanded its public data resources in recent years.
My hope is simply that the next step is making more current, detailed, and regularly updated information available about military families—not just Veterans.
Military spouses.
Veteran spouses.
Military surviving spouses.
Caregivers.
These groups are part of the military community too.
If we want evidence-based policy instead of policy based on assumptions, then we need evidence.
And evidence begins with good data.
Stop Making Us Guess
One of the most frustrating parts of advocacy is being asked to prove there is a problem while being denied access to the data that would help answer the question.
The military community deserves better.
Researchers deserve better.
Congress deserves better.
Most importantly, military families deserve better.
We cannot build twenty-first century policy using yesteryear's numbers.
If we truly want to support military families, then we need to invest not only in programs—but also in the data that tells us whether those programs are reaching the people who need them.
