The US Pentagon is facing serious charges of opacity, as the official website recording American casualties in the war with Iran displays a reduced number of dead and injured, "disappearing" soldiers from the official count.
Despite assurances of a technical malfunction, the case has caused a political storm in Washington, with Democratic senators demanding immediate explanations from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and speaking of an issue that touches the credibility of the American state itself toward its soldiers and their families.
For his part, the American Secretary of Defense accuses the media that their main concern is to criticize President Trump, at a time, however, when not even he, as was evident in his statement before Congress, can give answers to basic questions, such as for example. what a US victory in Iran would look like.
Data disruption
The Pentagon website tracking war casualties continues to display incorrect data, almost a day after the. reduction of the total number of dead and injured American military personnel in the war with Iran, a fact that Department of Defense officials attributed to a "data disruption."
Democratic senators sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth late Thursday evening, requesting explanations for the problems on the website and demanding a full accounting of war casualties.
They make them "disappear"
Four deaths and dozens of injuries disappeared from the total data on Thursday, even though earlier in the week the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) website correctly reported that the total number of American soldiers who had lost their lives in the war was 18.
These four soldiers were killed the previous weekend during operations, three of them in Jordan and one in Iraq.
President Donald Trump attended the dignified transfer ceremony of the remains of the four service members on Wednesday at Dover Air Base, in Delaware.
In Vietnam we lost 200,000
During a public appearance on Thursday he confirmed that total deaths amounted to 18, but downplayed the significance of the number.
"Even one is too many, but it is 18, whereas in Vietnam we lost 200,000," he stated.
However, according to official Pentagon figures, total American casualties in the Vietnam War amounted to 58,220 dead.
The list of the dead
The 14 deaths still appearing on the DCAS website through Friday appeared to include a sailor who lost his life in early July when the helicopter he was aboard crashed in the Arabian Sea.
Pentagon officials attributed the problem to technical malfunctions and denied that there was any deliberate attempt to conceal the real human cost of the war, following media revelations about the sudden decrease in numbers.
"The Department of War is aware of temporary data disruptions on the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) website," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated in a post on platform X.
"These anomalies are currently being resolved in cooperation with the individual branches of the Armed Forces."
The data keeps changing
American media asked the Pentagon yesterday, Friday July 24, to explain why the data had not yet been corrected and whether the Department of Defense will be able to resolve the issue permanently so that numbers are accurate in the future.
Answers have not yet been given.
CNN, which systematically monitors the DCAS website, had observed repeated malfunctions during the week, with total figures changing constantly.
Delayed for security reasons
The Department of Defense has also delayed releasing figures on injuries during the war, citing security reasons.
Last Monday, Sean Parnell had acknowledged that "nearly 100 service members" had been injured since July 7, at a time when dozens of these injuries were not appearing in the DCAS data.
They demand explanations
The twelve Democratic senators serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee signed a letter on Thursday asking Pete Hegseth to explain what is causing the inaccuracies in the DCAS system and demanding a full accounting of casualties.
"The American people, Congress, members of the Armed Forces and their families deserve a full and accurate accounting of the human cost of war," the letter states. "Data currently available to the public suggests that the Department has not consistently provided timely and comprehensive public reporting on casualties throughout the conflict."
Days are required to report casualties
Even when the system appears to be functioning normally, DCAS data shows significant delays in being updated.
A Pentagon official had previously stated that "it may take several days or even weeks before an injury is recorded in military systems," due to required medical evaluations and review processes.
Nevertheless, the same official assured CNN that the DCAS database is "updated regularly."
Hegseth's fire
Pete Hegseth has in the past criticized the way media outlets cover military deaths.
In a press conference in March he had stated: "When a few drones get through or tragic incidents happen, those become front page headlines."
"I get it," he added. "The press just wants to present the president in a negative light."
Pete Hegseth made no reference to military deaths during his opening statement in his testimony on Tuesday.
In contrast, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, who was sitting beside him, referred to the four service members killed the previous weekend, following a pattern that had also been observed in their joint press conferences during the first days of the war.
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