WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), pressed Sean O’Keefe, nominee to serve as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, for his commitment to maintain focus on addressing brain injuries stemming from weapon blast traumas. During the exchange, Senator King’s remarks were informed by the analysis of the brain of the Lewiston shooter — who shot and killed 18 Maine people in October 2023 — which showed evidence of severe traumatic brain injury. An Army reservist, he worked as an instructor at a hand grenade training range where it is believed he was repeatedly exposed to low-level blasts, leading to an undetected deterioration of his mental health. O’Keefe gave his absolute commitment to prioritize working to better understand and combat the impacts of blast traumas.

Senator King made this issue the focal point of his questions for O’Keefe during the hearing:

“Mr. O'Keefe, I am running out of time. We had a tragedy in Maine several years ago with a shooting. 18 people killed. It turned out that the fellow had been a trainer exposed to blast, blast overpressure. There was a lot of work done at the time. I hope you will commit to maintaining that work, and to be sure that what was learned in those various reports that were made gets down to the troop level, so that it is not just a report on the shelf in the Pentagon, it actually affects conduct. This is one of the most serious problems coming out of the Mideast Wars, is the effects of continuous exposure to blast,” said Senator King.

“You absolutely have my commitment. As you know, we did quite a lot of work on this in last year’s NDAA and that legislation will take place over the next year or so. If confirmed, I look forward to implementing the legislation and working with this committee. We are learning more about this area every day, it seems. It is affecting more people the perhaps we first thought. Absolutely, you have my commitment. This is a priority,” replied O’Keefe.

“You use the magic word, implementation. One of my mottos of life is: implementation can be as important as vision. We can have a good bill coming out of here. If it is not implemented adequately, it’s not going to save lives. I accept your commitment and look forward to working with you on that,” concluded Senator King.

During just three months in 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD) provided treatment to service members nearly 50,000 times for traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), which are considered the “signature wound” of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. For troops with mild TBI, “the most important cause of brain injury was the long-term exposure to explosive weapons.” Researchers in Afghanistan also determined that, “75 percent of the troops’ [blast] exposure was coming from their own weapons.” Despite this, service members continue to train with weapons with unsafe blast levels, and sadly, many have of these injuries have led to high levels of mental illness and suicide.

Following the Lewiston shooting, Senator King has been working with his colleagues to increase mental health funding and address brain injuries. Last summer he wrote a letter to the former Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Lloyd Austin urging the Department to expedite protection of servicemembers from weapon blasts and TBIs. Prior to that letter he urged leaders of the Appropriations Committee to support the strongest possible funding for the Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health Research program within the DoD Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDRMP). Earlier this year, Senator King introduced bipartisan legislation to study impacts of lower-intensity weapon blasts on veteran mental health. He also was successful in securing a provision to protect service members from brain injuries in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

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