Overview
- The Government Accountability Office reported May 20 that the Defense Suicide Prevention Office does not receive service-level completion data, so it cannot monitor department-wide training compliance.
- GAO found that Army, Navy and Marine Corps headquarters generally do not track annual training completion, and only the National Guard Bureau takes steps to promote and follow up on noncompletion.
- None of the services have evaluation plans that meet Pentagon standards requiring both process and outcome measures, so they cannot show whether training actually improves recognition of suicide risk or help-seeking.
- GAO issued 17 recommendations to require reporting to DSPO, strengthen service-level monitoring, and develop evaluation plans, and the Defense Department agreed with nine, partially agreed with six, and disagreed with two, leaving some fixes unresolved.
- The findings come as total-force suicides numbered 471 in 2024, and a separate Pentagon review has proposed combining suicide prevention with other annual trainings, meaning implementation will hinge on future policy, staffing and funding decisions.