Office of Military Liaison and Veterans Affairs 

The Office of Veterans Affairs was formed in 1974 by Secretary Caspar Weinberger, at that time Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Military Liaison was added in 1985, in order to provide a focus for military as well as veterans issues and appropriate liaison with the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the Pentagon for veterans, their families and for active duty personnel about to separate from the Armed Forces. In 1996, the OMLVA was moved from the Office of the Secretary (OS) to its present location in the Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS). This Office serves as the primary liaison to the military and veterans service organizations.

In the above mentioned roles, the OMLVA  provides advice, counsel, information and liaison activities for and between the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the White House, National Security Council (NSC) and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. The office, along with these other Executive Branch agencies, coordinates those policy and program initiatives within DHHS which enhance national defense and help improve health services to military personnel and veterans. The OMLVA provides leadership to the DHHS' involvement in joint Health and Human Services/Veterans Affairs/Defense endeavors which require collaboration and coordination and/or which seek to serve the health and human service needs of military members, veterans and their families. This Office provides coordinated guidance to research directed toward sick, disabled or disadvantaged veterans and military personnel.

The OMLVA is heavily engaged in Persian Gulf War Illnesses (GWIs) issues and DHHS' involvement arising from the Secretary's co-leadership role (along with Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs) on the Persian Gulf Veterans Coordinating Board (PGVCB). The Director, OMLVA is the principal, day-to-day policy/program officer for this Secretarial and Departmental involvement.

Director: Capt. Mary I. Lambert
Room 730E
200 Independence Ave. SW
Washington DC  20201
(202)205-1840 Voice
(202)205-2107 Fax