Clearer rules for responding to service member absences could help save lives, according to a recent GAO report. (Noga Ami-rav/Stars and Stripes)
Giving U.S. military commanders clear, specific procedures to follow in the critical hours after service members unexpectedly go missing could improve the odds of saving their lives, a government watchdog agency says.
Air Force and Navy guidance on facilitating the search for absent personnel should designate a timeline for certain actions, such as notifying law enforcement or family members, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released last week.
Also, the Marine Corps still has not issued formal guidance for locating missing service members despite a 2022 recommendation by the GAO that it do so, according to the report.
“Clear formal guidance for the command-led response process during the first 24 hours following an absence can help to prevent harm and save lives,” the report’s authors said.
Marines stand in an accountability formation at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, Oct. 1, 2018. A recent Government Accountability Office report on procedures for reporting unexplained service member absences noted that the Marine Corps still has not issued formal guidance for such cases despite a 2022 recommendation to do so. (Justin Huffty/U.S. Marine Corps)
The agency noted that only the Army has specified when certain actions, such as notifying law enforcement or family members, should take place.
That and other gaps in guidance for commands in locating and tracking absent personnel could result in missed opportunities, the report stated.
“A timely and well-coordinated response to a service member’s absence between unit commanders and law enforcement is critical to establishing the facts and helping to ensure the service member’s safe return, if possible,” the GAO said.
The Marine Corps will issue an interim directive in March addressing the GAO recommendations, with full implementation by January 2028, the report stated, citing service officials.
The report findings follow updates to the Army’s missing-soldier process in the aftermath of the killing of Spc. Vanessa Guillen in 2020.
Guillen was reported missing from Fort Hood, Texas, in late April of that year. She was last seen working in an arms room on base. Her remains were found over two months later more than 20 miles from the base.
The 2020 killing of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen, pictured here, led to significant reforms in the Defense Department regarding missing service members. Commanders could benefit from clearer guidance on what to do following the discovery of a service member's unexplained absence, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. (U.S. Army)
Authorities believe she was bludgeoned to death with a hammer by fellow soldier Spc. Aaron Robinson and then taken in a large plastic box to the place where her remains were found. Robinson fatally shot himself during a confrontation with law enforcement.
The case led to Defense Department policy reforms on sexual harassment and sexual assault.
The GAO recommendations also come amid questions about the Navy’s handling of the disappearance of now-Petty Officer 3rd Class Angelina Resendiz last year.
Her badly decomposed body was found in a wooded area near Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia in early June, 12 days after family members and fellow sailors raised concerns about her well-being on May 29.
But it wasn’t until June 3, five days after she was last seen or in contact with family and friends, that a statewide alert was issued, a lag that occurred because the Navy initially considered her absent without official leave.
That response has drawn criticism from her family and congressional inquiries into the handling of her disappearance.
Seaman Jermiah Copeland, who was assigned to the same ship as Resendiz, is charged with premeditated murder in her death, along with several crimes involving three other women.
The body of Seaman Angelina Resendiz was discovered June 9, 2025, in a wooded area about 10 miles from Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The Navy and the Air Force should be more specific about the timing for taking certain actions in cases of a service member's unexplained absence, a watchdog agency said in a new report. (Photo courtesy of the Resendiz family)
Service members can be absent from their duty stations for varying reasons, which may be either voluntary or involuntary.
For example, 295 service members were listed as involuntarily absent in a nonhostile setting from 2015 through 2024, with 93% of those absences resulting in a declaration of death, according to the GAO report.
About 78% of those deaths were from accidents, including service-related ship collisions and aircraft crashes. A further 10% were from suicides. The causes behind the remaining involuntary absences were not identified in the report.
In its assessment, the GAO said the Navy and Air Force should augment their processes to include greater specificity in the timing for taking certain actions.
For example, Army guidance requires commanders to notify service law enforcement officials of a soldier’s absence within three hours of discovery and to inform family members within eight hours, the GAO said.
Navy and Air Force officials interviewed by the GAO recognized the importance of locating a missing service member quickly, but the guidance issued by each service outlines response time frames with varying specificity, according to the report.
That gap results in “different interpretations among officials regarding how quickly certain actions should be initiated,” the report stated.
For example, some officials said they would alert the appropriate higher-level command of an absence within a few hours, while others said they would wait until the end of the day, the following day or potentially longer.
Some indicated they would contact installation law enforcement within a few hours of being unable to locate a service member, while others preferred to wait until the following day to give the service member an opportunity to return to duty without escalating the issue.
The GAO made 12 recommendations, including that the services also better address the role of mental health in unexpected absences and potential safety issues that could arise during the response process.
The watchdog agency also wants the Defense Department to issue a policy requiring guidance that commanders presume a service member’s absence indicates they may be in danger and that they consider absences most likely involuntary after a specific time period unless available information indicates otherwise.
That recommendation, also made to the Navy and Air Force, is in line with recent changes to Army policy.
The Defense Department concurred with the recommendations.
