Quick Hits
- President Trump signed Executive Order 14426, “Accelerating Access to Veterans’ Benefits and Employment Opportunities,” on September 8, 2026, to address the transfer of records between DOW and the VA.
- The executive order sets a series of deadlines for the DOW and the VA to modernize both the technology and the policies governing records sharing.
- The executive order also directs changes to help veterans move more quickly into employment or further training.
The Problem the EO Is Trying to Solve
When military records move slowly, everything downstream moves slowly with them. Healthcare coverage stalls. Benefits processing and payments are delayed. Education opportunities and job training become harder to access. EO 14426 frames this not as a minor administrative inconvenience but as a structural barrier that actively hampers veterans’ transition to civilian life.
What the Order Requires
The EO sets a series of deadlines for DOW and the VA to modernize both the technology and the policies governing records sharing:
Within thirty days and at all times thereafter, DOW must begin sharing a service member’s official military personnel file, health records, and service treatment records with the VA immediately upon that individual’s discharge or release from service. This is the most time-sensitive requirement in the order and appears designed to stop the problem before it starts, rather than fixing it after the fact.
Within 120 days, the secretaries of War and Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Management and Budget, must review and modify all relevant technology contracts to ensure their systems communicate with each other, addressing the interoperability issues that have historically been at the root of these delays.
Within 180 days, two things must happen:
- DOW and VA must establish updated technology and policy guidance to ensure the permanent, prospective, and ongoing sharing of all official military personnel files and service treatment records are shared from the moment an individual enters service until he or she no longer requires VA benefits, not just at the point of discharge.
- The two agencies must also build and deploy tools that consolidate the application and access process for earned benefits, including job training and opportunities offered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), into a single, comprehensive source.
A Parallel Push on Employment
The order doesn’t stop at records. It also directs changes to help veterans move more quickly into employment or further training. Within 180 days, the secretary of War, in consultation with the secretaries of Labor and Veterans Affairs, must update the Transition Assistance Program and related workforce programs so that every separating service member is, to the maximum extent practicable and applicable, either:
- connected to specific open jobs matching the individual’s skills and interests; or
- enrolled in career and technical education, an eligible DOL-funded employment or training program, or a registered apprenticeship.
Separating service members must also be connected with veterans’ representatives, whether federal, state, or local, who can help them apply for healthcare, disability, home loan, job placement, or education benefits.
Reading Between the Lines
This order fits into a broader, ongoing policy focus on veterans and transitioning service members. At its core, it targets a specific and well-documented failure point: outdated and incompatible software systems that create delays in getting veterans the benefits they’ve earned. By forcing DOW and the VA to fix interoperability and share records immediately at the point of discharge, rather than relying on manual requests after the fact, the order attempts to close a gap that has affected veterans’ healthcare, financial stability, and job prospects for years.
In our view, it also signals an intent to make the transition out of the military less passive. Rather than simply providing information about available benefits and programs, the order pushes toward active connection: to specific jobs, to specific training programs, and to specific people who can help navigate the system.
The open question, as with many executive orders of this kind, is implementation. Aggressive deadlines and interoperability mandates are only as effective as the funding and staffing behind them. Whether the U.S. Congress and the agencies involved allocate sufficient resources to build and maintain these new systems will likely determine whether this order meaningfully shortens the gap between military service and civilian benefits or becomes another well-intentioned mandate that outpaces its own execution.
Ogletree Deakins’ Military Workforce Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and provide updates on the Military Workforce blog.
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