The Secret Program Using Donated Bodies to Train Foreign Soldiers

Student journalists uncovered a secret program where American universities supplied donated human bodies — without telling donor families — to train Israeli military surgeons on U.S. soil.

Story Highlights

The University of Southern California (USC) received over $1 million from the U.S. Navy since 2018 to supply at least 89 cadavers used to train Israeli military surgical teams in Los Angeles.
Donor families say they were never told their loved ones’ bodies could be used for foreign military training — a major consent violation.
The bodies came largely from UC San Diego through a loan agreement with USC, and the Navy is already moving to extend the program through 2029.
A peer-reviewed study found that fewer than half of U.S. body-donation programs have a formal ethics review process, pointing to a system-wide oversight problem.

What the Investigation Found

Student journalists at USC first broke the story, and an Al Jazeera investigation later confirmed the details. According to those reports, USC secured more than $1 million from the U.S. Navy since 2018 for supplying at least 89 cadavers. The contracts reportedly name both the Navy and the Israeli military. Israeli military surgical teams traveled to California four times a year to train on those bodies. A 2020 document from USC and Navy instructors described a four-day combat trauma surgery course for Israeli forward surgical teams, covering simulated gunshot and blast wounds.^[2]

The bodies came mainly from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), which supplied cadavers to USC through a loan agreement. UC Health confirmed that UCSD was the source.^[2] USC and UCSD have defended the program by saying it trains medical professionals to save lives. But that defense does not answer the core question: did donor families know their loved ones’ bodies would be used this way?

Families Were Never Told

A USC physician, speaking anonymously out of fear of retaliation, told reporters that donor agreements do not disclose military use. Families are not informed. The family of Janette Volpin, who donated her body to USC after her death in 2021, said they had no idea. Her daughter told reporters: “Had she known that, do you think she would have been comfortable donating her body to USC? I don’t think so.”^[2] USC student journalists also sent a letter to the dean calling for more transparency in donor consent forms.

This is not just a one-school problem. A peer-reviewed study of 69 U.S. institutions found that only 33 reported having a formal ethics review process for research involving body donors. Some programs even allowed photography of donors that was never disclosed in consent forms.^[5] The system as a whole lacks the oversight needed to protect the wishes of donors and their families.

A Pattern of Broken Trust in Body Donation

This case fits a troubling pattern across American universities. The Hastings Center has documented how unclaimed and donated bodies have been leased to outside organizations, the U.S. Army, and for-profit companies — often without families knowing.^[4] Harvard’s body-donation program became the subject of a criminal case after a morgue manager was caught selling body parts. George Washington University shut down its donation program entirely after similar concerns.^[1]^[3]

An investigation by @ajplus from @Dena reveals how the remains of Americans who donated their bodies for educational and scientific research ended up in military training programs conducted by the US Navy.

Members of IOF participated in these programs without the knowledge of… pic.twitter.com/7uzfkLujCG

— Sahat English 🇵🇸 (@sahatenglish) June 9, 2026

The USC and UCSD case stands out because it involves a foreign military. Americans who donated their bodies trusted that their final gift would serve education and healing. Instead, their remains were used in combat surgery drills for soldiers of another nation’s military — without their knowledge or consent. The Navy is already taking steps to extend this program through 2029.^[9] Congress and the Trump administration should demand full transparency: release the contracts, the donor forms, and the chain-of-custody records. Donor families deserve to know the truth, and the American people deserve to know how this was allowed to happen.