DoD Suicide Tracking Act of 2014

Policy for standard suicide data collection, reporting and assessment— To improve consistency in and oversight of the suicide prevention and resilience program for the National Guard and Reserves established pursuant to section 10219 of title 10, United States Code, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe a policy for the development of a standard method for collecting, reporting, and assessing suicide data and suicide-attempt data involving members of the National Guard and Reserves.

Consultation— The Secretary of Defense shall develop the policy required by subsection (a) in consultation with the Secretaries of the military departments, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, and the adjutants general of the States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.

Submission of policy and congressional briefing— Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit the policy developed under subsection (a) to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives. At the request of the committees, the Secretary also shall brief such committees on the policy and the implementation status of the standardized suicide data collection, reporting and assessment method.

Implementation— The Secretaries of the military departments, with respect to the Reserves, and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau and the adjutants general, with respect to the National Guard, shall implement the policy developed under subsection (a) within 180 days after the date of the submission of the policy under subsection (c).

Program required— As soon as possible after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall direct the Secretary of each military department to develop and implement a program to track, retain, and analyze information regarding suicides involving dependents of members of the regular and reserve components of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of that Secretary.

Dependent defined— In this section, the term “dependent” means a person described in section 1072(2) of title 10, United States Code, except that, in the case of a parent or parent-in-law of a member of the Armed Forces, the income-support requirement of subparagraph (E) of such section does not apply.