The Pentagon has been slow to disclose injuries to US troops during the ongoing war with Iran, avoiding publicly confirming the fallout from Iranian attacks and mostly reserving totals to a military website that lags events by several days or even weeks with officials saying the delay is intended to protect service members.
While earlier in the war US Central Command, the military headquarters overseeing the war effort, would provide periodic updates on injuries, it has not been regularly disclosing non-fatal attacks in recent months.
That leaves the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, as the primary official source for the number of US casualties in the conflict. Data in the system reviewed by CNN appears to show a significant delay in updates, and a Pentagon official said that “it can take several days or even weeks for an injury to be documented in military systems” due to medical evaluation and review requirements. The official, however, told CNN that the DCAS database is “regularly updated.”
Since the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran was signed in mid-June, DCAS has recorded one new US fatality. Navy Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, a helicopter pilot, was lost at sea in a July 1 accident in the Arabian Sea. The system shows 14 new wounded troops as of Monday, the same number that had been included in a Friday update.
