Three U.S. Army veterans of a nuclear weapons base in Okinawa have filed claims with the Veterans Administration for cancers associated with radiation exposure. Since January, 2020, the Japanese Defense Ministry has been removing a large swath of soil from the former nuclear weapons storage area in Henoko Village, but has refused a request from the local Diet representative from Okinawa to test it for radioactive contamination. This threatens the safety of local residents, and denies important information to the veterans filing VA claims.