New York – – October 07, 2026 -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has integrated CLEAR's secure identity platform, CLEAR1, into a pilot program designed to simplify account access for the nation's roughly 17 million living Veterans while combating fraud across federal benefit programs.
VA.gov sign-in now offers biometric verification via selfie
Veterans can now create or access their VA.gov account using CLEAR1, which combines biometrics, government-issued identification and trusted data sources to verify identity. After a one-time setup, future sign-ins require only a selfie, reducing reliance on traditional usernames and passwords. VA operates the largest integrated health care system in the country, serving 9.1 million enrolled Veterans annually, and VA.gov serves as the primary digital gateway to earned benefits and services.
Six VA medical centers deploy in-person CLEAR Pods
For Veterans without smartphones or reliable connectivity, CLEAR Ambassadors are stationed at CLEAR Pods in six participating VA medical centers: Brooklyn, New York; Washington, D.C.; Palo Alto, California; Decatur, Georgia; Orlando, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Enrollment is free and voluntary, and Veterans who opt out retain full access to VA services through existing sign-in methods.
Federal agencies reported $186 billion in improper payments in FY2025
The pilot arrives amid mounting scrutiny of benefit-payment integrity across government. Federal agencies reported an estimated $186 billion in improper payments during fiscal year 2025 across 64 programs. Within VA specifically, the Government Accountability Office found that the Beneficiary Travel Program alone accumulated roughly $1 billion in improper payments between 2018 and 2024, including confirmed fraud cases. CLEAR frames identity verification as a first line of defense against such losses, arguing that funds recovered from fraud prevention translate directly into resources available to Veterans.
CLEAR expands federal footprint beyond VA to Medicare.gov
CLEAR1 is being deployed across multiple federal health and civilian agencies. The company is separately under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to modernize identity verification on Medicare.gov. CLEAR1 holds Full Service certification from the Kantara Initiative for NIST IAL2/AAL2 standards covering its remote, self-service enrollment flow.
"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," said Caryn Seidman Becker, CEO of CLEAR.
CLEAR states that Veterans' personal health information remains with VA and is not accessed or received by CLEAR through the identity-verification process. The company, which has built identity infrastructure for high-security environments including airport checkpoints for more than 16 years, counts over 43 million members across its platform. VA and CLEAR will evaluate expanding the offering based on results from the pilot.