Accountability and Whistleblowers in VA Spotlight

In an ongoing effort to improve oversight and to protect potential whistleblowers at the VA, President Trump has signed a new executive order creating the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection. The executive order establishes an office that will report directly to VA Secretary David. J. Shulkin, MD. “Accountability is an important issue to us at VA and something that we’re focusing on to make sure that we have employees who work and are committed to the mission of serving our veterans,” Dr. Shulkin explained at an April 26 press conference. “When we find employees that have deviated from those values, we want to make sure that we can move them outside the VA and not have them working at VA.”

The new office is not the first effort at the VA to protect whistleblowers or to expedite the removal of employees. In 2014 the Office of Accountability and Review was established to increase central office scrutiny of senior-level executives at local and regional VA facilities. In contrast Dr. Shulkin noted, “This is a broader office that will be taking a look at all of our employees.” The current VA Whistleblower Office, created just last year will be incorporated into the new office, according to Dr. Shulkin.

Related: VA Secretary Shulkin Calls for New Powers to Fire VA Employees

Not everyone greeted the announcement with praise. “This rush to fire feds faster, first at VA, but with attempts to spread it across government, comes with a serious risk,” argued Washington Post columnist Joe Davidson. “Yes, due process rights can be slow and cumbersome. They protect, however, not just employees, but more importantly, also the public from a politicized system that favors citizens of one political party over another. Reforms must respect civil service protections. They should be acknowledged by government leaders and not be ignored as they were at the signing.”

Officials at the Project on Government Oversight expressed concern that whistleblowers should have an independent channel to report their concerns. Like the current whistleblower office, the new structure “may do far more damage than good,” the organization reported “It is incredibly important that whistleblowers have the ability to go to an independent office to report wrongdoing, since an internal office could be pressured to act in the VA’s interest by covering up problems and silencing whistleblowers.”

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Dr. Shulkin insisted that the office did not negate the need for the new legislation that he has called for that would speed the process of firing problem employees. Nor will the new office replace the hot line set up by the White House for veteran complaints about VA service. “These are all 3 efforts that are important for us to identify issues that are preventing us from doing the very best job that we can,” he explained. “We’re keeping our employees and our executives accountable to the values, to be able to work at the VA. We are soliciting input from veterans who feel that they have issues that they want to share with us, and that’s what the hotline will be doing.”

While the focus on the effort is on employees malfeasance, Dr. Shulkin cautioned that the VA was still concerned about employee morale and protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. “Our employees have to feel safe, when they see something, to tell us about it,” he explained. “The message is clear that we will not tolerate whistleblower retaliation in the [VA]. And we will take actions if we do determine that retaliation has been imposed upon an employee who has come forth with an issue.”

Related: Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gibson Defends VA Discipline Guidelines

Dr. Shulkin also announced a new task force that would tackle fraud, waste, and abuse, “to make sure that we are aggressively investigating any issues that might lead to the waste of taxpayer dollars.”