In Washington’s current state of gridlock, one strong point of agreement, regardless of party, is that our nation’s military veterans have earned the best care we can provide.
But as a patient care scandal at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reaches crisis levels, it’s clear the agency charged with caring for veterans and their families is failing in its mission. It’s time for our leaders in Washington to step up and demand reform at the historically troubled department.
Members of Congress will have an opportunity to do so this week. Secretary Eric Shinseki will testify before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Thursday about problems at the department, including allegations that VA officials manipulated and falsified data on patient wait times.
With the scandal growing, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) and the American Legion have called for Shinseki’s resignation — not out of hostility toward the secretary, but because we believe replacing the department’s top leader will send a clear message that no one should be above accountability. And Shinseki has a lot to answer for. In Phoenix, a VA whistleblower alleges that at least 40 veterans died while on a secret “interim” wait list for medical appointments, and there are credible allegations that VA employees attempted to destroy evidence of the secret list. Similar revelations of falsified data and corrupt record-keeping have arisen in Colorado, Texas and Wyoming.
Shinseki will likely decline to comment on the allegations of fraud at these facilities, since they are under investigation. But the secretary should take this opportunity to be forthright with Congressional overseers about the problems at the VA and how he plans to address them.
He should be prepared to answer broader questions about VA performance and administration, and to address the need for reform. Here are 10 questions veterans, their families, and taxpayers would like to see Secretary Shinseki address when he testifies Thursday:
1) Since there are now credible allegations from at least five VA facilities that employees manipulated data to make wait times appear shorter, why should we not assume this practice is common to many more, or all, VA facilities?
2) Given the allegations of manipulation of records at various VA facilities, how can we trust any data reported by the VA?
3) VA officials have received generous performance bonuses in recent years, but we are now learning that those bonuses may have been based upon fraudulent reporting. What consequences will VA employees who engaged in this fraud face?
4) You have claimed you have the managerial and administrative tools you need to enact the necessary change at the VA. Why have you not done so? Why has nobody in senior management been fired?
5) What are you doing to build a culture where people are held accountable for their mistakes?
6) There are 110 outstanding requests for information from VA for the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Why does it take so long to provide information? How can you expect problems to be fixed when you withhold information from committees that are trying to help?
7) VA is the second largest federal department. Do you believe that the department is too big to be managed successfully? Why or why not?
8) What protections against whistleblowers does the VA have to ensure that those who come forward to speak about malfeasance do not face retribution or retaliation?
9) During your years of service in the U.S. Army, a common command principle held that leaders who failed to perform, or who maintained command over failing missions, are to be replaced. Why does that standard not apply at the VA?
10) Leading veterans organizations have called for your resignation from the department, suggesting as significant decline in trust from the veterans’ community. What do you plan to do to rebuild that trust?
All these questions are pertinent, but this last is particularly critical. The latest revelations of VA abuse and dysfunction have dealt a serious blow to veterans’ trust and confidence in the system. Rebuilding that trust, by taking steps to foster a culture of accountability and results at the VA, should be job one for the secretary.
The allegations in Phoenix and elsewhere paint an ugly picture of a VA bureaucracy obsessed with deflecting blame and preserving the status quo, rather than finding the truth and demanding accountability. Instead of taking care of the veterans it’s supposed to be serving, VA is only looking out for itself.
Secretary Shinseki has said he intends to disregard calls for his resignation and stay in his post. If so, he must be prepared to explain why our veterans are dying in a failing health care system — and why his employees are covering it up — and then explain how he intends to right the ship.
Pete Hegseth is the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, and a FOX News contributor. Pete is an infantry officer in the Army National Guard, and has served tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay.