An additive manufacturing machine includes an energy beam system configured to emit an energy beam utilized in an additive manufacturing process, and first and second optical elements utilized by, or defining a portion of, the energy beam system and/or an imaging system of the additive manufacturing machine. The imaging system monitors one or more operating parameters of the additive manufacturing process. A light source is configured to emit an assessment beam that follows an optical path incident upon the first and second optical elements. One or more light sensors detect a reflected beam that is either internally reflected by the first optical element or reflectively propagated between the first and second optical elements. A control system determines, based at least in part on assessment data comprising data from the one or more light sensors, whether at least one of the first and second optical elements exhibits an optical anomaly.