The Gade Contradiction: When the Expert Witness Doesn't Identify as a Veteran
The Gist
On October 29, 2025, Dr. Daniel Gade testified before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that VA disability compensation “robs veterans of purpose.” Eleven days later, in a Veterans Day interview, he revealed: “I don’t identify really as a veteran.”
The Gade Contradiction: When the Expert Witness Doesn’t Identify as a Veteran
Dr. Daniel Gade (center) in The Civ Div interview with Clay (@TheCivDiv, left) and Jason (@VeteransInfoTap, right) on November 11, 2025. At 1:42:07, Gade stated: “I don’t identify really as a veteran.”
The Gist
On October 29, 2025, Dr. Daniel Gade testified before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that VA disability compensation “robs veterans of purpose.” Eleven days later, in a Veterans Day interview, he revealed: “I don’t identify really as a veteran.”
This is the same man whose entire career—White House veteran policy advisor, Virginia Veterans Services Commissioner, expert witness—depends on his status as a wounded combat veteran.
The contradiction gets worse:
He minimized his role as co-founder of research he cited as independent evidence
That research involved 171 veterans but he’s recommending policy changes for 6.5 million
He used VA Vocational Rehabilitation benefits to fund his own graduate education, then testified those benefits harm veterans
He judges other veterans’ claims through a personal “shame test” rather than the legal framework Congress established
The Senate relied on his testimony to consider restricting benefits for millions of veterans. They deserve to know who they’re taking advice from.
On October 29, 2025, Dr. Daniel Gade testified before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs about VA disability compensation. A retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who lost his leg in Iraq, Gade had the credentials: West Point grad, PhD in public policy, former White House staffer, Commissioner of Virginia’s Department of Veterans Services.
His message to Congress was clear: VA disability compensation “robs veterans of purpose.” The system is “paying veterans to be sick and to be disabled.”
Eleven days later, on Veterans Day, Gade sat down for an interview on The Civ Div with Clay and Jason from Veterans InfoTap. That’s where he said something the Senate Committee never heard.
“I don’t identify really as a veteran. Like when they in church when they say, ‘Hey, veterans stand up on Veterans Day.’ I just stay seated. You know why? Because I’m a civilian. I’m a civilian. I don’t view myself in that way.”
The man testifying to Congress about restructuring benefits for 6.5 million veterans doesn’t consider himself one of them.
The Career Built on Veteran Policy
Gade’s entire professional life centers on veterans:
White House Domestic Policy Council (2007-2008) - veterans policy
PhD dissertation on the VA claims process
Professor at West Point
Co-led the Independence Project studying veteran employment
Published “Wounding Warriors: How Bad Policy Is Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer”
Virginia Commissioner of Veterans Services (2022-2024)
Expert witness before Congress
Every credential, every platform, every speaking opportunity comes from his status as a wounded combat veteran.
He just doesn’t identify as one.
The Moral Framework
In the Civ Div interview, Gade explained his view:
“Every claim that somebody puts in is a moral statement, right? The what the law says is what is legal. What I’m arguing for isn’t I’m not even talking about the law. I’m talking about asking veterans to take a look at what is moral, not what is legal.”
He introduced the “10 citizen test”: If you can’t list your disabilities to random strangers at the grocery store without embarrassment, your claim probably isn’t legitimate.
Not whether a doctor diagnosed it. Not whether the VA approved it. Not whether it meets the legal criteria Congress established.
Whether it passes his personal shame test.
What He Told the Senate
In his written testimony, Gade made sweeping claims:
VA disability compensation “robs veterans of purpose”
“9 of the top 10 conditions for newly rated veterans are easily exaggerated or totally unverifiable”
The system “traps veterans in a disability identity”
Eliminate compensation for conditions caused by “genetics, aging, or lifestyle”
He cited the Independence Project as evidence.
What He Didn’t Disclose
What Gade told the Senate: “While teaching at West Point [I] co-led the Independence Project, a randomized control trial.”
What other sources say:
ProPublica: “The Independence Project Co-Founder”
Coffee or Die (2020): “co-founder of the Independence Project”
National Women’s Law Center (2022): “Gade co-founded the Independence Project”
iVoterGuide (2020): “The Independence Project, Founder”
He minimized his role from co-founder to co-leader.
The sample size: The published study had 171 veterans complete the one-year follow-up. That’s 0.0026% of the 6.5 million veterans receiving VA disability compensation.
He’s recommending policy changes for millions based on research involving fewer than 200 people.
The study had limitations:
Volunteers who “expressed desire to work”
Only 30-90% disability ratings
Excluded 100% ratings
One year follow-up
Recently separated veterans, not the average 62-year-old beneficiary
The Privileged Path
Gade’s trajectory:
1992 - Enlisted in Army Reserve
1997 - Graduated West Point
2005 - Wounded in Iraq as Captain
Army sent him to University of Georgia for master’s degree
2007-2008 - White House Domestic Policy Council
Army funded his PhD (completed 2011)
2011-2017 - Professor at West Point
2017 - Retired as Lieutenant Colonel with 25 years
2017-present - Professor at American University
2022-2024 - Virginia Commissioner of Veterans Services
In the interview, he acknowledged: “I’m white and I’m highly educated and I was an officer... I have a great wife. My wife very early on after I got hurt came to me and said, ‘Daniel, I’ll take care of everything... But the second you get well enough, you’re in charge of our family.’ ...Not everybody has that. Most people don’t have a wife as awesome as mine.”
He recognizes his advantages. Then uses his path as the standard for judging millions of other veterans.
The VR&E Contradiction
In a 2024 Green Beret Foundation podcast, Gade said: “When I got out, I went to NYU and I got my MBA. The GI Bill paid for the first year and vocational rehab paid for the second year.”
VA Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment helps veterans with service-connected disabilities obtain and maintain employment.
So Gade used VA benefits for disabled veterans to fund graduate education that helped lead to his career as a professor.
Then testified that VA benefits “rob veterans of purpose.”
His own life contradicts his testimony.
The Moral Judgments
From the Civ Div interview:
On his retirement physical:
“This guy was like... ‘Well, what about your brain injury?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t have a brain injury.’ And he said, ‘Well, but I can get you paid for it.’... And I said, ‘You’re not listening to me, dude. I’m only going to claim stuff that’s real.’”
Implication: Veterans who file for conditions he wouldn’t file for are claiming things that aren’t “real.”
On veterans who claim lifestyle-related conditions:
“Is it my fellow citizens’ responsibility? Because I don’t view VA disability payments as any different really if it’s if it’s filed for something that’s nonsense or that’s common to the human condition... then it’s no different than going into your neighbor’s house when she’s away and rifling through her purse and taking money out.”
Filing legally authorized claims = theft.
On veteran identity:
“Just like if you saw me wearing my high school letter jacket, you’d be like, ‘Okay, that’s weird, dude. You’re 50. You shouldn’t be wearing a high school letter jacket.’... I don’t identify really as a veteran... it’s something I used to do, not something I am now.”
Being a veteran is embarrassing, backward-looking, something to move past.
Yet every dollar he earns professionally comes from being that wounded Lieutenant Colonel who can speak with authority on veteran issues.
Questions the Senate Should Ask
How can you testify about what’s best for veterans when you don’t identify as one yourself?
Why did you describe yourself as having “co-led” the Independence Project when multiple sources identify you as co-founder?
How can a study of 171 veterans justify policy changes affecting 6.5 million?
If VA benefits “rob veterans of purpose,” how do you explain your own successful career after using VR&E benefits?
Why should Congress accept your personal moral code over the legal framework they established?
Do you believe veterans who file claims you wouldn’t personally file are doing something wrong?
The Bigger Picture
Gade’s testimony was part of a coordinated campaign: Washington Post articles about fraud, think tank talking points about “$250,000 veterans,” Congressional hearings with selected witnesses, policy proposals to restrict benefits.
He was supposed to be different—the disabled veteran with moral authority to say the system needs changing.
Instead:
Built his career on veteran policy while not identifying as a veteran
Used VA benefits to achieve success while arguing others shouldn’t have the same opportunities
Co-founded research he cited as independent evidence
Used 171 veterans to recommend policies affecting 6.5 million
Judges other veterans’ claims through personal moral tests that ignore legal standards
That’s not moral authority. That’s a fundamental disconnect between the expert and the population he claims to serve.
Sources:
Senate Hearing - October 29, 2025
Gade Written Testimony - Senate testimony
The Civ Div Interview - November 11, 2025 with Clay and Jason
Green Beret Foundation Podcast - Episode #042
ProPublica - Co-Founder listing
Coffee or Die Magazine - March 2020 profile
National Women’s Law Center - January 2022
iVoterGuide - 2020 profile
Independence Project Study - Published May 2022
ClinicalTrials.gov - Trial registration
VA Press Release - March 2024
Newsweek - October 2025