Jess Finucan
Role at the time: Director of Policy & Advocacy, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), in a statement quoted in Rep. Pat Ryan's press release on a bill IAVA endorses
Statement summary
In a statement quoted in Rep. Pat Ryan's Sept. 17, 2026 press release on the Honoring the Sacrifice of Troops in War Act, Jess Finucan of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said IAVA is demanding that the Department of Defense be accountable and transparent in its decision to reclassify casualty records. She called purposefully reclassifying records to minimize the impacts of war "negligent" and a disservice to servicemembers and their families.
“Purposefully reclassifying records to minimize the impacts of war is negligent and is a disservice to the servicemembers and families who have borne the costs.”
Why we used this label
In the same statement Finucan says IAVA is demanding that the Department of Defense be accountable and transparent in its decision to reclassify casualty records and calls purposeful reclassification to minimize the impacts of war negligent, which criticizes the Pentagon's accounting and disclosure; the statement predates the Post report and concerns the July recategorization, not the 22 or 23 figure. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, because the "negligent" sentence is worded generally ("Purposefully reclassifying") and does not itself assert that the Pentagon acted purposefully. That loses because the statement as a whole is directed at the Department's reclassification decision and offers no defense of it.