In 1922, the U.S. Navy identified asbestos as the most efficient material for shipbuilding insulation and equipment production due to its heat resistance and durability. The naturally occurring asbestos mineral was also the most abundant and cost-effective material on the market. During the difficult WWII years, asbestos became critical to the U.S. Military, especially for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force: shipping and shipbuilding were essential, and parts of the military aircraft and incendiary bombs also contained asbestos.
Even as demand exceeded supply, in 1942, a presidential order banned the use of asbestos for non-military purposes until 1945. The application of asbestos-based material by the Military continued to increase until the 1970s when its carcinogenic nature came to light, and the use of asbestos started to be regulated but not banned.
Certainly, warfare is, in large part, the reason for the extensive application of asbestos and asbestos-caused malignant conditions among veterans. The issue concerns all veterans who were exposed to asbestos dust during their service years and might have asbestos fibers in their lungs, as asbestos-related conditions—such as mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis —can take between 20 to 50 years to start showing symptoms. The long latency period is also the reason why the number of asbestos-caused deaths in the U.S. has been increasing in the past decades. Everyone exposed to asbestos fibers is at risk of getting ill. However, veterans are disproportionately affected. This is well illustrated by medical reports, which show that about one-third of mesothelioma patients are veterans. Mesothelioma is a deadly and aggressive cancer that is exclusively caused by asbestos exposure.
Timely and appropriate diagnosis is the only option to find suitable treatment, alleviate symptoms, and prolong life expectancy when it comes to conditions caused by asbestos contamination. Unfortunately, the misdiagnosis of asbestos illnesses, especially mesothelioma, is far too common in the U.S. According to a 2019 medical study, about 14% to 50% of mesothelioma diagnoses are incorrect. The problem could be solved by having a national database enlisting military members with known and supposed asbestos exposure during their service years. Such a database would be an excellent tool for veterans' referrals to regular and specialized medical check-ups. We plead with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) to consider urgently setting up such a registry.
While the decline in the number of veterans is primarily because the overall veteran population is aging and many pass away, illnesses—such as respiratory conditions and cancers—substantially contribute to this process. That is why it is essential that veterans diagnosed with a malignant condition stemming from asbestos exposure file claims with asbestos trust funds set up by bankrupt manufacturers or apply for disability compensation and possibly free health care from the VA.
Asbestos-linked diseases are now presumptive conditions in the PACT Act.
Veterans with known and unknown asbestos exposure must attend regular health check-ups and specialized screenings, such as chest X-rays, CT scans, or breathing tests, even if they do not experience symptoms. Only a timely discovery allows treatment to slow the progression of an asbestos-related disease, alleviate pain, and prolong life expectancy. It’s especially critical in aggressive conditions such as mesothelioma and lung cancer. Mesothelioma is especially hard to diagnose because its initial symptoms resemble more common lung disease. Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the U.S., and similar to mesothelioma, its symptoms first show when the cancer is at an advanced stage, considerably reducing veterans’ survival odds.
Manufacturers were aware of the hazards posed by asbestos years before its use started to be regulated, and they exposed millions of service members to its danger by hiding the truth from the military. Policymakers are trying to compensate now for the harm caused. The disability compensation application process with the VA has been more straightforward since 2022, since the passage of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act ( PACT Act). Asbestos and asbestos-related illnesses have been added to the list of presumptive conditions, and more than 1.4 million veterans have been approved for benefits nationwide thanks to the Act.
Having a disability, especially at an older age, is an enormous burden—not only mentally and physically, but financially, too. Veterans should claim what is rightfully theirs and offered by the VA’s disability compensation program, its asbestos trust funds, and the PACT Act. More information is available at https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits/.
Cristina Johnson is a Navy veteran advocate for Asbestos Ships Organization, a nonprofit whose primary mission is to raise awareness and educate veterans about the dangers of asbestos exposure on Navy ships and assist them in navigating the VA claims process. For more information, please visit our page.
image of U.S. President Donald Trump is displayed on a digital billboard in Times Square in New York on April 8, 2026.
Trump is stuck between two realities. Neither serves the American people
Normally, I worry that events may overtake a column. But not so with the Iran war.
I don’t worry about running afoul of a headline or Truth Social post from the president because what is said about the situation is no longer very relevant to the reality.
On April 8, Nick Catoggio, my Dispatch colleague, dubbed an earlier stoppage with Iran “Schrödinger’s ceasefire.” This was a reference to the famous thought experiment by the physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who was trying to explain the weirdness of “superpositionality” in quantum physics. A cat in a box is both dead and alive at the same time until you open the box. Schrödinger meant to illustrate the absurdity of the idea that particles aren’t any one thing, but a “cloud of probabilities.”
The Trump administration is stuck in a word cloud of probabilities of his own making. The war is over. The war is on. The war isn’t a war. We have a deal, but we don’t have a deal, but we’re about to have a deal. We destroyed Iran’s military. No, we left it intact. We want regime change. No we don’t. We already accomplished it. We “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program a year ago. We had to go to war in February to prevent nuclear war. The Strait of Hormuz is open, closed, or something in-between. No deal without “unconditional surrender.” Let’s make a deal!
This everything-all-at-once vibe can be disorienting, particularly since most Americans didn’t have a war with Iran on their bingo cards until the shooting had already started. President Trump didn’t prepare the country or consult with Congress beforehand because he thought it would all be a smashing success in a matter of weeks.
The miscalculation that started it all: killing Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and much of Iran’s senior leadership, on the first day of the war. To “the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,” Trump announced on Feb. 28. “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
I support regime change in Iran and shed no tears for Khamenei or his goons. But when you start a war by killing the regime’s top leaders, it’s not unreasonable for the remaining ones to conclude that you really intend regime change.
Khamenei was a murderous fanatic, but he was a fairly cautious one. He liked to threaten closing the Strait of Hormuz or attacking our regional allies, but he was reluctant to actually do it, fearing it would invite a regime change war. The mullahs and IRGC goons believed, not unreasonably, that if they lost their grip on power, they’d be lynched by the Iranian people they’ve brutalized for decades.
By starting with a regime change war, Trump removed any reason for the regime not to go for broke. When you have nothing to lose — particularly when you are a millenarian religious fanatic — a Persian Alamo strategy makes a lot of sense.
So Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and attacked its neighbors.
But it turns out this wasn’t the Alamo. In the contest of wills, Trump blinked. The Iranian regime’s tolerance for punishment proved — so far — to be greater than Trump’s and that of our gulf allies. Militarily we could finish the job, but that would require ground troops and much greater economic turmoil. In a conflict Trump launched unilaterally without the prior support of Congress, NATO or the American people, Trump doesn’t have the political capital for that.
But that’s only half the problem. Trump wants the war over, but he doesn’t want to pay — militarily, economically, politically — what that would cost. So he wants to make a deal that ends it. But there is no deal available that wouldn’t come at an equally undesirable cost. Any deal that looks like what President Obama struck with the Iranians would be too embarrassing to bear. But the Iranians are convinced that they can get just such a deal, and they’re willing to drag things out as long as it takes.
The result: Trump’s in a box of his own making. He thinks he can talk his way out by simply asserting a reality that doesn’t exist. When the financial markets get nervous, he announces a breakthrough that is, at best, a possibility. When the Iranians agree to a deal that looks similar to one Obama might negotiate, Trump goes back to his threats.
It can’t go on forever. But I’m sure it’ll last until long after this column is forgotten.
Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.