  The American Veteran's #1 Information Source Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 03-04-2009 |
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The American Veteran's #1 Information Source Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 03-04-2009 |
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VA'S DOCUMENT SHREDDING AND MISHANDLING -- DAV calls for prosecution of VA employees who fraudulently withhold benefits or destroy records: "The message must be clear...you will go to jail."
Story below: Your comments accepted at bottom of page.
by Larry Scott
On Tuesday, March 3, 2009, two Subcommittees of
the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs held a joint hearing looking into
the shredding and mishandling of documents at the Veterans' Benefits
Administration (VBA) of the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA).
Complete shredding and document mishandling information, with timeline, is
on this page... The two subcommittees were the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, and the The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Rep. John Hall (D-NY) chaired the hearing. A complete witness list with links to their prepared testimony is posted at the bottom of the page. There's lots of interesting reading. The mantra of the day from Members was, "How can this happen? I'm shocked. I'm outraged." We've heard all that before. The mantra of the day from VBA officials and witnesses from the VA's Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) was "inaccurate dates [on claims] were unintentional errors" and "no veterans or their beneficiaries received incorrect or delayed benefit payments." As strange as this might seem, it is true, but
only when referring to the very limited VAOIG report released on Friday,
February 27, 2009. That report dealt only with four
carefully-selected VA Regional Offices and did not look at the big picture
of shredding, date-switching and document mishandling. That report
is here... Basically, the hearing was a "sell job" to make the public believe that the VAOIG report was indicative of the general health of the VBA system. Not so! VA will never be able to tally the loss to veterans caused by months? years? decades? of document shredding, date-switching, hiding files... and the list goes on. But, if they say it enough... "no veterans or their beneficiaries received incorrect or delayed benefit payments"... people begin to believe it... and, that's what VA wants. There were some interesting tidbits to come out of the hearing. VA and VAOIG kept making it sound like the first anybody at VA's Central Office knew about the shredding was October 14, 2008... the day after VA Watchdog dot Org broke the shredder story. That's false because we confirmed that this was known at the highest levels of the VA as soon as the problem was discovered months earlier. But, I guess a little fudging on "who knew what and when" is just standard practice for the VA. The VAOIG testimony brought to light that a number of VBA employees have been removed from government service because of their actions. And, they revealed that the document "amnesty" at the Detroit Regional Office, first reported here, garnered 16,000 documents. This is the first time this has been reported. The "amnesty" was called so VBA employees could turn in any documents that they might be holding that should have been in a file or being processed. So, again, I don't see how they can say no veterans were affected if 16,000 documents had been "hidden" by employees. Also in the VAOIG prepared testimony is an almost-funny reference to two VBA employees who, when confronted with evidence, denied wrongdoing and demanded a polygraph. So, VAOIG arranged the polygraph tests and the employees decided not to take them. The DAV's Kerry Baker took an interesting stance: prosecute 'em. This is a first... a service org calling for criminal prosecution of VBA employees. Baker quote: "Without further discussion, the actions we are addressing today unquestionably reveal a need for changes in law that equally punish VA employees who fraudulently withhold benefits as it currently punishes those who fraudulently obtain benefits. The message must be clear—if you destroy a veteran’s records, whether through malice or desperation, you will go to jail." We discovered that VAOIG is setting up an entirely new department to keep tabs on VBA. It is called the "Benefits Inspection Division" and will be checking all VA Regional Offices on a regular basis. But, they also testified that they needed more resources to do this effectively. And, we found out from Mike Walcoff, Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits, that when processing a claim, Regional Offices get more production credit when they ask for more documentation. This seems so counter-intuitive. This gives claims personnel a reason to delay and ask for more documents... it also gives them reasons to "disappear" paperwork so they can ask for more... all the while earning production credit and stiffing the veteran who has filed the claim. Also, a representative from AFGE (the union that represents many VA employees) bemoaned the lack of proper training for VBA personnel and criticized the new shredding policy, saying it takes too much time and that there could be a balance between the old and new policies. Everyone, Members and witnesses, agreed that the only possible solution to the problems discussed, and to the VBA's huge claims backlog, is to go paperless. VBA says they are in the process making the process digital and will meet a 2012 deadline. Well, all-in-all, the hearing was an interesting "dog-and-pony-show" for a change. Link to archived webcast is on this page... Your homework is listed below:
Opening Statements
Witness Testimonies
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