Letter to President Joe Biden - Webster & Colleagues Urge President Biden to Follow Through on K2 Study
Letter
Dear President Biden,
We write to you today regarding the nearly 16,000 military personnel and veterans who were deployed to
Karshi-Khanabad (K2) Air Base in Uzbekistan between 2001 and 2005. Military personnel stationed at
K2 Air Base were, according to DOD's own reports, likely exposed to a range of toxic chemicals
including depleted uranium, lead, asbestos, and other volatile compounds.
As you are probably aware, the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 116-283) included in
Sec. 751 the previous Green-Lynch bill's requirement for the Department of Defense (DoD) to study
toxic exposure by servicemembers deployed to K2 Air Base between 2001-2005. The recently enacted
Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act (P.L. 116-315) also included in Sec. 2010 a
requirement for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to partner with the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry to conduct an epidemiology study and permitted K2 veterans' access to
the burn pit registry.
Furthermore, on January 19, 2021, former President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13982, which
ordered the DOD in consultation with VA to conduct a study with additional specified details.
Importantly, Executive Order 13982 also ordered DoD and VA to consider designating these heroes as
having served on active duty in a theater of combat operations for the purposes of receiving medical care.
K2 is a former Soviet military base that was used as a logistics and air base by U.S. forces in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom. During this time, American servicemembers deployed to K2 Air Base
served valiantly in defense of our nation. Sadly, nearly two decades later, many of these warriors are now
experiencing severe negative health events including 500% higher rates of particular cancers,
reproductive issues, and neurological impacts. With the tremendous sacrifices of these servicemembers in
mind, we would ask that your administration work diligently to ensure the faithful execution of Executive
Order 13982, Sec. 751 of the FY2021 NDAA, and Sec. 2010 of P.L. 116-315.
We look forward to working with your administration to ensure that our nation's servicemembers who
served at K2 Air Base have access to the high-quality medical care they earned for the ailments they are
suffering. Thank you for your leadership. We stand ready to assist in any way we can with these efforts.
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