It was launched on 25 July 2012 and initially contained only a small number of entries, but eventually The Pentagon hopes to expand it to become much more comprehensive.
A 2009 Pentagon review noted such a database would not be viable, in part because of the 1973 National Archives fire which destroyed documentation of many servicemembers' decorations,[1] as well as privacy concerns, which would limit the use of certain information on such a site, such as date of birth and Social Security numbers of each recipient.
[1] On 23 July 2012, President Barack Obama announced the database would be created within a few days, hosted at valor.defense.gov, in an effort to reduce the number of fraudulent award claims.
[7] On the day of its launch, the site contained only 10 entries; the 10 U.S. servicemembers[n 1] who had been awarded the Medal of Honor for actions since the September 11, 2001 attacks, and included only each recipient's name, rank, and the campaign in which they received the decoration.
[9] Staffers are considering compiling information for awards presented before 11 September 2001, but have said a 1973 fire at a records center in St. Louis that destroyed millions of servicemembers' files would make such efforts difficult.