U.S. Department of Defense Announces New Actions to Prevent Suicide in the Military
On September 28, 2023, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin released a memo directing urgent actions to address suicide in the military community, building upon two years of significant work towards suicide prevention across the Department of Defense (DoD).
Following the Secretary’s establishment of the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC) in 2022, the SPRIRC conducted internal reviews of 11 military installations consisting of 457 focus groups and interviews with 2,106 Service members and 670 civilian staff. Guided by this review and existing research, the SPRIRC made 127 near- and long-term recommendations to address this critical problem within the ranks.