Two senators are questioning whether an electronic records system is partly to blame for the military’s failure to get enough recruits into basic training because it has led to delays in clearing them medically.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, both Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said they have requested the Defense Department describe the severity of the delays and called for an evaluation of the impact the delays have had on recruiting.

Recruiters from each service branch have had difficulty in the last two years finding enough candidates for basic training. The Army missed its recruitment goal in 2022 by about 15,000 soldiers, according to the service. The 2023 recruiting deadline ends Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year, and the Air Force and Navy have joined the Army in saying the services will likely miss their enlistment targets.

“It is essential that recruits are healthy enough to enlist in the military. However, DOD needs to examine the steps it is taking to ensure that the process of enlisting and obtaining waivers does not impede the recruitment process,” the senators wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “If this backlog continues, we may lose our next generation of military leaders who are well-qualified but may be deterred from applying because of long past and fully addressed medical issues.

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In March 2022, the Defense Department employed a new congressionally mandated health information system called Genesis at all 67 military processing stations.

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