'Green Alert' bill would create Amber Alert-like national system to find missing veterans

Lawmakers this week introduced a bill to begin developing a nationwide system to help locate missing, at-risk veterans.

The "Green Alert" system is similar to the Amber and Silver alert systems for children or older Americans. The National Green Alert Act was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-Mass., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, an Army veteran. The bill was also introduced in the House by Reps. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa.

The bill would first establish a commission including members from the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Justice, Transportation, and Health and Human Services, along with state and local officials and veterans. The commission would develop the plan to establish the Green Alert system across states. The system would be used to alert law enforcement and the public when a veteran goes missing. The commission also would be required to report to Congress after two years on recommendations for additional actions to support states as they develop Green Alert systems.

“After returning home from protecting our nation and working to keep Americans safe, secure, and free, far too many veterans struggle with mental health concerns,” Hassan said in a statement. “The National Green Alert Act would help states to set up a system to quickly locate at-risk veterans who go missing. This is an important step in upholding our commitment to providing veterans with the support that they have earned and deserve after all that they have sacrificed for our country.”

"I know firsthand the challenges and hardships many of our veterans experience when they return home from serving our country,” Ernst said, adding that the legislation will "go a long way to protect those in crisis."

In 2019, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc., introduced a similar bill, the Corey Adams Searchlight Act, also called the National Green Alert Act. Moore introduced the legislation after a similar measure was successfully implemented in her home state. But Moore's bill did not make it through Congress and expired, the second time it had failed to gain traction after being introduced in 2018.

Corey Adams was a 45-year-old U.S. Air Force technical sergeant who served in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War and later in Afghanistan and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In March 2017, Adams went missing and was found dead 18 days later. Though Adams’ family reported him missing within hours of his disappearance, Adams did not fit the criteria for a “critically missing person” and law enforcement could not issue alerts such as the Amber Alert for missing children or the Silver Alert for missing older Americans and those with mental disabilities. Law enforcement did not begin a formal investigation into Adams’ disappearance for eight days.

Adams' family worked with state lawmakers to craft legislation to create a statewide alert system for veterans like him.

Now, Capitol Hill lawmakers are again pushing for a nationwide alert system to replicate the success seen in Wisconsin.

“We are all familiar with AMBER and Silver Alerts and how effective they are, and it makes sense to have a system to help locate at-risk veterans during a time of need,” Miller-Meeks said.