WASHINGTON — A presidential commission created to examine troop and veterans care after the Walter Reed controversy may not have enough time to complete its work given its broad mission, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, said yesterday.

In a letter to President Bush, Akaka, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, asked for more specifics on how the nine-member panel plans to meet its June 30 deadline.

The commission is led by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, a Democrat.

"Without the time to delve into these issues, we fear that we may be looking at solely a political reaction to the very real problems at Walter Reed," Akaka wrote in a letter, along with four other Democrats on the committee and independent Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont.

Bush created the panel last week with a mandate of studying troop and veterans care from the battlefield through their transition to civilian life after revelations of poor conditions and neglect at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The commission — one of a slew of reviews under way by congressional committees, the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs — is expected to hold its first meeting today to hire staff and find office space.

Some veterans groups have urged quick action, noting that problems of substandard care have been known and reported by the Government Accountability Office for years. But this week, Dole said he anticipated the panel will need to exercise its option to extend the June 30 deadline by at least 30 days.

"If we are going to go out and have some hearings and visit DOD facilities, VA facilities, whatever, it's going to take awhile," he said on CNN.

Separately, an interagency task force led by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson created a Web site yesterday to solicit input from service members, veterans and their families on the ease of accessing federal benefits.

The task force of eight agency leaders, including defense, labor and health and human services, is due to provide a report next month on what the Pentagon and VA can immediately do to fix problems.

People are asked to e-mail their comments to TFHeroes@va.gov or fax (202) 273-9599.