Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) is asking why Unissant, Inc., the company that manages the Department of Defense's (DoD) Epidemiology Database, continued to share "live" data when it was aware of integrity issues with the database.
Johnson, the top Republican on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has sent a letter to Kenneth Bonner, Unnisant's President and Chief Growth Officer, regarding the company's management of DoD's Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) seeking clarification on when the data issues occurred and how they Unissant and DoD responded.
The timeline below highlights the events relating to the DoD's database and vaccine safety that occurred prior to Johnson's most recent inquiry, according to Johnson.
- On Jan. 24, 2022, during Sen. Johnsonโs COVID-19: A Second Opinion panel, he discussed DoD whistleblower data that showed significant increases in registered medical diagnoses on DMED in 2021, compared to a five year average from 2016-2020. Sen. Johnson sent three letters to DoD about the whistleblowersโ allegations and called for a preservation of all DMED records.
- On Jan. 31, 2022, DoD reportedly claimed that the data in DMED โwas incorrect for the years 2016-2020โ and that the DMED system was taken offline to โidentify and correct the root-cause of the data corruption.โ To date, Sen. Johnson has not received a substantive response to his letters from DoD, other than to confirm that it โcreated (and preserved) a full back up of the DMED.โ
- On March 7, 2022, Sen. Johnson wrote to Unissant requesting documents and information about its awareness of DMEDโs data integrity issues. Unissant provided some responsive materials on May 4, 2022.
Based on these Unissant records, it appears that as early as August 2021, the DoD and Unissant were both aware that DMED had data integrity issues, but still allowed DMED to โgo liveโ with these issues. Further, in January 2022, DoD and Unissant representatives discussed data issues on DMED with a DoD employee noting on January 31, 2022, that โDMED access was restored after the data was corrected."
Sen. Ron Johnson, (R-Wisconsin)
Johnson is calling on Unissant to answer further questions about its management of DMED and clarify the companyโs explanation for requesting DoDโs approval to respond to Congressional inquiries.
The full text of the letter and the full timeline of events relating to DMED and vaccine safety can be found here and below.
June 14, 2022
Mr. Kenneth Bonner
President and Chief Growth Officer
Unissant Inc.
Dear Mr. Bonner:
On March 7, 2022, I requested Unissant provide records relating to its management of the Department of Defenseโs (DoD) Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED). This request was based on data from three DoD whistleblowers that showed significant increases in registered medical diagnoses on DMED in 2021, compared to a five year average from 2016-2020.[1] On May 4, 2022, Unissant responded to my letter and provided some responsive materials shedding more light on DMEDโs data integrity issues.[2]
Based on these Unissant records, it appears that as early as August 2021, the DoD and Unissant were both aware that DMED had data integrity issues, but still allowed DMED to โgo liveโ with these issues.[3] Further, in January 2022, DoD and Unissant representatives discussed data issues on DMED with a DoD employee noting on January 31, 2022, that โDMED access was restored after the data was corrected.โ[4]
The timeline below highlights the most relevant developments regarding issues relating to DMED and vaccine safety and helps put some of Unissantโs records into context. This timeline is based on Unissantโs records, public reporting, and Congressional oversight:
Timeline of events relating to DMED and Vaccine Safety
ยท April 26, 2021: News reports indicate that the โDefense Department is tracking 14 cases of heart inflammation, or myocarditis, in military health patients who developed the condition after receiving either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.โ[5]
ยท May 17, 2021: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group review post-authorization COVID-19 vaccine safety data. ACIP and VaST decide that reports about myocarditis should be communicated to providers.[6]
ยท June 23, 2021: Slides from a meeting of the CDCโs ACIP indicate that โthereโs a likely link between rare heart inflammation in young people after [the] Covid shot.โ[7]
ยท Aug. 2021: According to DoD, the โDMED monthly refresh procedure was updated . . . following a planned server migration. The programming error was introduced at that time and . . . affected DMED data since September 2021.โ[8]
o DoD stated that, โNot all of the DMED tables were affected by the logic error and not all DMED queries were affected by the corrupt data.โ[9]
ยท Aug. 17-18, 2021: DoD and Unissant representatives email each other to โhelp test and verify DMED monthly data loading data.โ[10]
o Regarding the data on DMED, a DoD representative writes on Aug. 18, 2021, โnot perfect, but pretty darn close. About 25,000 differences out of 86 million. [A]t this point I thin[k] you can publish all of the data to DMED and change the complete calendar year to 2020. I am glad to continue to troubleshoot the differences with [another employee] if we have time, but letโs not hold up getting DMED current.โ[11]
ยท Aug. 24, 2021: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issues a memorandum mandating that service members receive COVID-19 vaccinations.[12]
ยท Aug. 29, 2021: According to a spreadsheet provided by whistleblowers to Sen. Johnsonโs office,whistleblowers download data on myocarditis from 2016-2021. That data showed: Total myocarditis diagnoses 2016-2020 equaled 216 (average of 43.2 diagnoses per year); 2021 myocarditis diagnoses equaled 1,239 (2,868% increase over 2016-20 average of 43.2 diagnoses per year).
ยท Sept. 24, 2021: LTC. Theresa Longโs affidavit regarding vaccine adverse events, including the risk of myocarditis, becomes public. Dr. Long would later bring forward information about alleged increases of medical diagnosis in DMED.
ยท Nov. 2, 2021: Sen. Johnson holds a vaccine injuries event in Washington, D.C. with medical experts and vaccine injured.[13]
ยท Jan. 10, 2022: According to a spreadsheet provided by whistleblowers to Sen. Johnsonโs office,whistleblowers download a complete DMED data set. The whistleblowers notice that figures for myocarditis have changed dramatically since the Aug, 29, 2021 download. Total myocarditis diagnoses 2016-2020 increased to 559 from 216 causing the annual average to increase to 111.8 from 43.2 diagnoses per year; 2021 myocarditis diagnoses decreased from 1,239 to 263 causing the percent annual increase to decline from 2,868% to 235% over the 2016-2020 average.
ยท Jan. 23, 2022: Sen. Johnson receives DoD DMED data from whistleblowers.
ยท Jan. 24, 2022:
o Sen. Johnson holds COVID-19: A Second Opinion event in Washington, D.C. Attorney Thomas Renz presents summary data from three DoD whistleblowers he represents who claim that data in DMED shows significant increases in registered medical diagnoses in the database in 2021, compared to a five year average from 2016-2020.[14]
o Sen. Johnson sends a letter requesting that DoD preserve all DMED records.[15]
ยท Jan. 26, 2022: The Defense Health Agency (DHA) creates and preserves โa full backup of the DMED.โ[16]
ยท Jan. 27, 2022: DoD conducts a review of DMED data and finds that, โthe data in DMED was corrupt for the years 2016-2020 when accessed after September 2021.โ[17]
ยท Jan 29, 2022: According to DoD, a โprogramming logic error [is] discovered in the code used to create some of the DMED summary data tables.[18] The code is corrected and tested in a developmental environment.[19]
ยท Jan. 30, 2022: Access to DMED data via the online application is restored.[20]
ยท Jan. 31, 2022:
o Unissant and DoD exchange emails about data issues in DMED. Unissant claims that โthe team worked over the weekend to identify and resolve the issues [and] the team uncovered other findings in testing that need to be addressed.โ[21]
o DoD informs Unissant that โDMED access was restored after the data was corrected.โ[22]
o PolitiFact publishes its article about DMED including DoDโs statement that it, reviewed data in the DMED โand found that the data was incorrect for the years 2016-2020.โ[23] DoD also stated that DMED was taken offline to โidentify and correct the root-cause of the data corruption.โ[24]
ยท Feb. 10, 2022: According to Unissant, DoD discovers that there is a need to โfix DMED monthly data for 2021.โ[25]
o According to Unissant, โThe problem stemmed from one of the developers using a COUNT function where a SUM function should have been used. The findings were presented to the client. The client confirmed that using the COUNT function produced incorrect data and that a SUM function should have been used.โ[26]
ยท Feb. 15, 2022: DoD informs Sen. Johnsonโs staff that, โ[o]n January 26th, after receiving Ranking Member Johnsonโs letter, the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division of the Defense Health Agency immediately created (and preserved) a full backup of the DMED.โ[27]
ยท March 3, 2022:
o 4:53 PM: Sen. Johnsonโs staff emails Unissantโs vice president and requests to speak with Unissant to discuss data issues connected to DMED.[28]
o 5:05 PM: According to Unissantโs internal emails, a Unissant representative forwards an Aug. 18, 2021 email chain between Unissant and DoD. The Unissant representative tells his colleagues, โThis is the email [DoD] sent to us approving us to go live with the DMED extract knowing that there were mistakes.โ[29]
o 5:06 PM: Unissantโs vice president responds to Sen. Johnsonโs staff, โThis request will need to be made to our government customer. We are not in a position nor are we willing to engage in this discussion.โ[30]
ยท March 7, 2022: Sen. Johnson sends a formal letter to Unissant requesting records relating to its management of DMED and communications with DoD.[31]
ยท March 18, 2022: Unissant responds to Sen. Johnsonโs letter stating, โUnissantโs contractual obligations to the Defense Health Agency, and the Federal Acquisition Regulations, prohibit it from answering your questions or providing any details about the work it performs for the Defense Health Agency.โ[32]
ยท March 22, 2022 โ Early April 2022: Sen. Johnsonโs staff and Unissantโs president engage in email communications regarding Unissantโs apparent restrictions in responding to Sen. Johnsonโs requests. Sen. Johnsonโs staff provides Unissant with information it received from DoD stating that the company does not need DoDโs consent to answer questions from Congress.[33]
ยท April 12, 2022: Unissant emails its DoD contracting officer to confirm whether the company has permission to respond to Sen. Johnson. The DoD contracting officer informs the company that, โwhen it comes to Congressional or Senatorial inquiries, you donโt need my permissionโ to respond.[34]
ยท April 22, 2022: Unissant emails its DoD contracting officer a letter requesting approval to release information to Sen. Johnson. Unissant writes, โOur letter explains why we are making this request even though youโve stated we do not need your permission.โ[35]
ยท May 2, 2022: Unissantโs DoD contracting officer emails the company, โ[y]ou have my approval to release the listed documents to Senator Johnsonโs office, per the request of March 7, 2022.โ[36]
ยท May 4, 2022: Unissant provides responsive documents to Sen. Johnsonโs March 7, 2022 letter.[37]
The records Unissant has provided to date as well as the companyโs unclear explanation for requesting DoDโs approval to respond to Congressional inquiries raise additional questions. Accordingly, please provide the following information by no later than June 28, 2022:
1. Does Unissant agree with DoDโs claim that โthe data in DMED was corrupt for the years 2016-2020 when accessed after September 2021.โ[38] If so, please explain why the DMED data for registered diagnoses of certain medical conditions from 2016-2020 was incorrect.
2. Please explain why registered diagnoses of myocarditis in 2021 decreased from 1,239 registered cases as of August 29, 2021 to 273 registered cases as of January 10, 2022.
a. Please explain why the average annual registered diagnoses of myocarditis from 2016-2020 increased from 216 as of August 29, 2021 to 559 as of January 10, 2022.
3. Unissant claimed that on February 10, 2022 DoD discovered the need to โfix DMED monthly data for 2021.โ[39] However, emails produced by Unissant show that on Jan. 31, 2022, Unissantโs Vice President Stephen Gehring wrote that, โthe team worked over the weekend to identify and resolve the issuesโ with DMED.[40] Later that day, a DoD employee confirmed that โDMED access was restored after the data was corrected.โ[41]
a. Did Unissant identify the issues discussed on January 31, 2022 in its list of issues relating to DMED (see enclosure)?
b. Were the issues discussed on January 31, 2022 different from the issue identified on February 10, 2022?
c. Did DoD or Unissant discover the issues discussed on January 31, 2022? Please provide all communications showing this.
d. It does not appear that Unissant provided communications referring or relating to the DMED issue discovered on February 10, 2022 (as requested in the March 7, 2022 letter). Please provide those documents.
4. According to Unissant, in another incident on February 10, 2022, the clientโDoDโdiscovered that โsuspicious data was reported in monthly data for 2021. The Unissant Development Team was charged with investigating the data in question.โ[42]
a. It does not appear that Unissant provided any records about this incident (as requested in the March 7, 2022 letter). Please provide those documents.
b. What was the โsuspicious dataโ?
c. On January 31, 2022 a DoD employee noted โDMED access was restored after the data was corrected.โ Was this January 31, 2022 claim that DMED data was fixed, not correct given that on February 10, 2022, DoD apparently identified additional data problems with DMED?
5. On January 31, 2022 Unissant Vice President Stephen Gehring noted that his team had โworked over the weekend to identify and resolve the issuesโ with DMED.[43] He added that โthe team uncovered other findings in testing that need to be addressed.โ[44]
a. What were those โother findingsโ?
b. Did those finding relate to issues with DMED? If so, were those findings identified in Unissantโs chart regarding issues relating to DMED (pursuant the March 7, 2022 letter)? If these findings were not identified, please provide a description of those findings, when Unissant communicated those findings to DoD, and the status of any corrective action(s).
6. In a March 3, 2022 email provided by Unissant, a Unissant representative informed Unissant officials Kenneth Bonner and Stephen Gehring that as recently as August 2021, DoD and Unissant were aware of problems with DMED but still let it โgo liveโ with those problems.[45]
a. What were the problems?
b. Why did Unissant allow DMED to โgo liveโ if it knew it had problems?
7. On April 22, 2022, Unissantโs President Kenneth Bonner attached a letter to an email to DoD Contracting Officer Kevin Hodge regarding DoDโs permission to release information to Sen. Johnson.[46]
a. This attachment was not included in Unissantโs May 4, 2022 production. Please provide this letter.
8. Unissantโs May 4, 2022 production included several emails between the companyโs representatives and DoD officials regarding DMED issues in August 2021. It does not appear those issues were identified in Unissantโs production Exhibit 3 or Exhibit 4 (enclosed).
a. What were those issues, who discovered those issues and when, how long did those issues exist in DMED, when were those issues corrected?
9. Unissantโs May 4, 2022 response noted that because its employees use DoD email addresses to communicate with DoD employees referring or relating to DMED, โUnissant does not have access to these documents and communications.โ[47]
a. Does Unissant not maintain records of its employeesโ communications between and among Unissant and DoD employees regarding their contracted work?
b. When preforming work on behalf of the federal government, how does Unissant ensure that its employees are following federal record preservation requirements if Unissant cannot access its employees documents and communications?
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Ron Johnson
[1] COVID-19: A Second Opinion, Rumble, Jan. 24, 2022, https://rumble.com/vt62y6-covid-19-a-second-opinion.html
(at 4:54:35).
[2] Kenneth Bonner, President, Unissant, to Ron Johnson, Ranking Member, Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations, May 4, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[3] Email between Depโt of Defense and Unissant representatives, Aug. 18, 2021 (on file with Subcomm.); Email between Unissant representatives, Mar. 3, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[4] Email from Depโt of Defense employee to Stephen Gehring Vice President, Unissant, et al., Jan. 31, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[5] Patricia Kime, Pentagon Tracking 14 Cases of Heart Inflammation in Troops After COVID-19 Shots, Military.com, April 26, 2021, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/04/26/pentagon-tracking-14-cases-of-heart-inflammation-troops-after-covid-19-shots.html.
[6] COVID-19 VaST Work Group Report โ May 17, 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/work-groups-vast/report-2021-05-17.html.
[7] Berkeley Lovelace Jr., CDC safety group says thereโs a likely link between rare heart inflammation in young people after Covid shot, CNBC, June 23, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/23/cdc-reports-more-than-1200-cases-of-rare-heart-inflammation-after-covid-vaccine-shots.html.
[8] Temporary Data Inaccuracies in the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, Depโt of Defense, Feb. 15, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[9] Id.
[10] Emails between Unissant and Depโt of Defense representatives, Aug. 17-18, 2021 (on file with Subcomm.).
[11] Email between Depโt of Defense and Unissant representatives, Aug. 18, 2021 (on file with Subcomm.).
[12] Memorandum from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Senior Pentagon Leadership, et al. (Aug. 24, 2021)
[13] VIDEO RELEASE Sen. Ron Johnson: What is the Rationale for the Mandates? There is No Rationale, Nov. 2, 2021, https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/2021/11/video-release-sen-ron-johnson-what-is-the-rationale-for-the-mandates-there-is-no-rationale.
[14] COVID-19: A Second Opinion, Rumble, Jan. 24, 2022, https://rumble.com/vt62y6-covid-19-a-second-opinion.html (at 4:54:35).
[15] Press Release, VIDEO RELEASE Sen. Ron Johnson COVID-19: A Second Opinion Panel Garners Over 800,000
Views in 24 Hours, Jan. 25, 2022, https://www ronjohnson.senate.gov/2022/1/video-release-sen-ron-johnson-covid-
19-a-second-opinion-panel-garners-over-800-000-views-in-24-hours; Letter from Ron Johnson, Ranking Member, Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations, to Lloyd Austin, Secretary, Depโt of Defense, Jan. 24, 2022.
[16] Temporary Data Inaccuracies in the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, Depโt of Defense, Feb. 15, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Email from Stephen Gehring Vice President, Unissant, to Depโt of Defense employee et al., Jan. 31, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[22] Email from Depโt of Defense employee to Stephen Gehring Vice President, Unissant, et al., Jan. 31, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[23] Jeff Cercone, Numbers were based on faulty data, military spokesperson says,
PolitiFact, Jan. 31, 2022, https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jan/31/instagram-posts/numbers-were-based-faulty-data-military-spokespers/.
[24] Id.
[25] Unissant document production, May 4, 2022 (enclosed).
[26] Unissant document production, May 4, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.) (emphasis originally included).
[27] Email from Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, Depโt of Defense, to Subcomm.
staff, Feb. 15, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[28] Email from Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations staff, to Unissant, employee, Mar. 3, 2022 (on file with
Subcomm.).
[29] Email between Unissant representatives, Mar. 3, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[30] Email from Unissant, employee to Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations staff, Mar. 3, 2022 (on file with
Subcomm.).
[31] Letter from Ron Johnson, Ranking Member, Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations, to Manish Malhotra, Chairman and CEO, Unissant, Mar. 7, 2022, https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/services/files/9849115A-623A-48C4-9D84-DA716F63EBC9.
[32] Letter from Kenneth Bonner, President, Unissant, to Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations staff Mar. 18, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[33] Emails on file with Subcomm.
[34] Emails between a Unissant and Depโt of Defense representative, April 12, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[35] Email from Kenneth Bonner, President, Unissant, to Depโt of Defense Contracting Officer, et al., Apr. 22, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[36] Email from Depโt of Defense Contracting Officer, to Kenneth Bonner, President, Unissant, et al. May 2, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[37] Kenneth Bonner, President, Unissant, to Ron Johnson, Ranking Member, Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations, May 4, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[38] Temporary Data Inaccuracies in the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, Depโt of Defense, Feb. 15, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[39] Unissant document production, May 4, 2022 (enclosed).
[40] Email from Stephen Gehring Vice President, Unissant, to Depโt of Defense employee, et al., Jan. 31, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[41] Email from Depโt of Defense employee to Stephen Gehring Vice President, Unissant, et al., Jan. 31, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[42] Unissant document production, May 4, 2022 (enclosed).
[43] Email from Stephen Gehring Vice President, Unissant, to Depโt of Defense employee, et al., Jan. 31, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[44] Id.
[45] Email between Unissant representatives, Mar. 3, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[46] Email from Kenneth Bonner, President & Chief Growth Officer, Unissant, to Kevin Hodge, Contracting Officer, Depโt of Defense, et al., April 22, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
[47] Kenneth Bonner, President, Unissant, to Ron Johnson, Ranking Member, Permanent Subcomm. on Investigations, May 4, 2022 (on file with Subcomm.).
I tell what worries me in the Future for me you and your Kids and Grand kid's, just from the events in the World since the 2008 Mortgage crises money scandals? " What is the Handful of Drug companies as well as all the other people in the World that Got all those $> Trillion's making money from the Covid vaccine's and all the Billion's from all these weapons manufacturing money, from 3 past Wars as well as the Ukraine Billion's spent ??? What do any corporations ever going to do with all those Billions and Trillions in the Future ??? "We need a New D.O.J. department watchdog agents just to watch out in future, what those groups of people are going to be up to with all that money in Future ? "Umm maybe better to take over control of your rights and innocent other future kids rights not even Born yet in America ? Some scarry stuff folks ? ( Weaponizing Trillions of Dollars ? )