Modernization

VA piloting CLEAR identity verification on its website

While using CLEAR is free and not mandatory, the pilot is “one of the first steps of a larger VA modernization effort” and combats identity fraud when accessing veterans’ benefits.

By K. Sophie Will

October 7, 2026

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In this photo illustration, the CLEAR Secure company logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Piotr Swat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched an identity verification pilot on its website through CLEAR, according to Wednesday press releases.

Billed as “one of the first steps of a larger VA modernization effort,” the announcement said veterans can use “CLEAR1” for free to access and create their VA-dot-gov accounts, though it is not mandatory and choosing not to enroll will not affect veterans’ ability to access VA benefits or services.

“Veterans earned these benefits, it should be easy for them to access them,” CLEAR CEO Caryn Seidman Becker said in the release. “Secure identity is the front door to care, and when that door works seamlessly and securely, Veterans get served faster and taxpayer dollars go where they belong.”

VA-dot-gov is the front door to veterans’ benefits, serving roughly 17 million veterans — 9.1 million of which are enrolled in VA healthcare, the release said. Currently, users can access the site through Login-dot-gov or ID.me.

“This technology is another way we’re changing VA to put Veterans first and make it easier for those who have worn the uniform to get the care and benefits they’ve earned,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a release.

Veterans can now set up their CLEAR accounts or visit CLEAR locations at six VA medical centers across the country, it said, though using CLEAR through the VA and using CLEAR at the airport are different services.

CLEAR1 uses biometrics, government-issued identification and “trusted data sources to establish confidence in the person accessing the account” and to combat fraud, waste and abuse, it said.

“Verifying that the right person is receiving the right benefit is the first line of defense, and every dollar recovered is a dollar available to the roughly 17 million Veterans who deserve support and resources after their service,” the release said.

Personal health information will remain within the VA, and it said CLEAR does not “receive or access it” through its processes, nor does the company sell biometric or sensitive personal data.

The release said CLEAR is also under contract to “modernize identity verification” on Medicare-dot-gov and will, with the VA, “consider expanding this offering pending the results” of the pilot. GovCIO is the prime contractor.