VA Watchdog dot Org - VA NEWS FLASH - 11-19-2008 -- UPDATE: VA'S "SHREDDER" TIMELINE AND EXPLANATIONS NOT BELIEVABLE -- A primer for those attending or viewing the House Vets' Committee roundtable discussion on VA's document handling.

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UPDATE: VA'S "SHREDDER" TIMELINE AND EXPLANATIONS

NOT BELIEVABLE -- A primer for those attending or

viewing the House Vets' Committee roundtable

discussion on VA's document handling.

Webcast link is here...

All stories regarding the VA's shredder and document handling scandal can be found on this page... click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/VAshredderscandal.htm

Your comments accepted at bottom of page.

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by Jim Strickland
with Larry Scott

VA'S "SHREDDER" TIMELINE AND EXPLANATIONS NOT BELIEVABLE

A primer for those attending or viewing the House Vets' Committee roundtable discussion on VA's document handling. Link to webcast is here...

The messages have been mixed these last few weeks. The following timeline is gleaned from VA Watchdog dot Org reports and statements issued by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA).

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August 20, 2008. VA’s Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) is conducting an investigation into document handling at the Detroit Regional Office (VARO) of the Veterans’ Benefits Administration (VBA). (see #1 below)

September 5, 2008. The Detroit VARO was the setting for a meeting held to inform employees that desks and work areas must be cleaned out of old files and other documents. (#2)

October 2, 2008. The Detroit VARO Director began a “no record mail” program to find mail in the offices where no record existed. Quoting from an employee witness, “…discovered in the thousands of pieces of ‘no record mail’ we found original applications, medical evidence for veterans’ claims that had not been included in the decisions, informal claims (that likely could affect original dates of claims), and other relevant identifiable mail items.” (#2)

October 6, 2008. Four employees at the New York VARO, including the Director, were placed on administrative leave, removed from their positions awaiting the outcome of an investigation amid allegations that documents, including paperwork essential to the claim process had been destroyed. (#2) The number of removed employees was later revised to six by an eyewitness who told of 20,000 pieces of unopened mail. (#3) And, it was later learned that the Director had been removed for computer tampering, that is “backdating” database entries, to look more productive. (#4)

October 7, 2008. “…the Director [at the Detroit VARO], Service Center Manager and other top management ransacked our work areas in search of mail that was being stored/stashed at individual’s desks.” (#2)

October 9, 2008. “During a training session the Director…stated that other regional offices have already placed numerous supervisors on administrative leave...” (#2)

October 13, 2008. VA Watchdog dot Org exclusively reported that documents vital to veterans claims were purposefully placed in shredding bins to be destroyed. According to a witness, hundreds of documents were involved. It was reported that the VAOIG had been there for some time and that at other locales, managers were being given administrative leave for issues with reporting and files. (#2)

October 16, 2008. A VA statement says, “a handful of documents related to veterans’ applications for financial benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were found among documents identified for shredding. The documents...could have affected veterans’ eligibility for benefits.” (#5)

October 16, 2008. The VFW issues a statement saying, “...the Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledged that 10 or more pieces of documents were discovered in shredder bins at four VA Regional Offices in Detroit, St. Louis, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Waco, Texas.” The VFW report goes on, “The VA Inspector General conducted a routine investigation of Detroit’s mail room and discovered five documents in the shredder bin, then three pieces are found in St. Louis, two in Waco, and some more in St. Petersburg.” (#6)

October 23, 2008. We learn from reports of a meeting of VBA officials attended by representatives of the major veterans’ service organizations (VSOs), that there are considerably more than 10 documents involved: “…they found 423 (later revised to 489) documents critical to veterans' claims in VARO shredder bins across the country.” (#7)

October 31, 2008. VA meets again with VSOs and provides a list of documents found in shredder bins at the VAROs. 41 VAROs are listed as having had at least one critical document in a shredder bin. (#8)

November 14, 2008. VBA issues Fast Letter 08-41 to its 57 Regional Offices with the stated purpose: “This letter provides information and guidance on handling assertions from claimants and veterans' representatives that a claim or evidence was previously submitted to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and not properly retained and considered.” (#1)

November 17, 2008. The VA provides a press release telling us that, “applications for financial benefits from VA may have been mishandled by VA personnel” and that “special new procedures” are being implemented to protect us in the future. The above steps are necessary because, “an application or another document was previously submitted to VA, but was not properly acted upon by VA and was not retained in the veteran’s records.” Press release says of document shredding, “When this problem of mishandled documents was uncovered on October 14, 2008…” (#9)

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Let's stop for a minute at this point to review and assess what we're being told.

An eyewitness has said that “thousands of pieces of ‘no record mail’” were involved and that “VAOIG discovered hundreds of claims, documents critical to claims and other valuable information in the shredder bins.”

VA originally stated that “a handful of documents” were involved. Marching along with their friends at VA, VFW agrees that “10 or more pieces of documents were discovered in shredder bins at four VA Regional Offices.” Then that number jumped to 423, then 489 as more people began emptying more shredder bins.

In another attempt to obfuscate and spin the facts to minimize the damage, the VA statement says that, “When this problem of mishandled documents was uncovered on October 14, 2008, VA immediately ceased all shredding activities while it established tighter controls over all claims documents and conducted special training for all employees who process veterans’ applications.”

It doesn't take much to understand how very wrong that is. The “problem of mishandled documents” was not “uncovered on October 14, 2008”. That was Tuesday morning, the very day following another holiday for the staff of the VA, and it was the day after VA Watchdog dot Org reported this debacle to you. Yet, the VBA fast letter says VAOIG was working on this on August 20, 2008 and the eyewitness tells of meetings regarding shredding problems on September 5, 2008.

While it's nice at think that the VA found out about the shredder bin problems by reading about it on VA Watchdog dot Org (the plug is appreciated), it just doesn't hold water.

VA officials, at the very highest levels, knew of the shredder bin problems well before October 14, 2008 and knew there were many times more than a “handful” of documents involved. Interviews with VA employees at the Detroit VARO and at VA Central Office (VACO) confirmed this.

In the VA press release Secretary Peake promises “full accountability”.

There is little that one person can do to another that is worse than lying to him. Mistakes can be forgiven. Stuff happens. Controlling a business as large as the VA is difficult.

But when a mistake is made, there is simply no good reason to tell us otherwise.

We already know that there were VA employees who were intentionally destroying our lives by sending our most sensitive and important documents to a shredder. They did this in a game to juggle numbers so that they could meet goals and earn fat bonuses.

We already know that documents weren't “mishandled” and there were a lot more than a “handful.” I for one am deeply insulted that the leaders of the VA would believe I'm dumb enough to accept any of that. I told you a day or two ago, please don't piss on my boots and then tell me it's raining.

Every time you do that, we lose more respect for you, the VA, and your credibility goes down another notch. It's pretty low now but trust me, there's room to go even lower if you keep trying.

Why not let's try something different? Let's try having the leadership of the VA, that very top echelon of brass who are currently circling the wagons tighter, let's see what would happen if you just told us the truth.

I know it's a radical concept but who knows, it may work. We deserve the truth you know

Start by telling us how many VA Regional Offices do you know of that had shredded documents? Come on, we know it's more than the 41 out of 57 you listed. How do we know? Because your policy of amnesty to reconsider “mishandled” claims isn't specific to just 41 Regional Offices. If you knew there were only 41 involved, we know that's what would be allowed.

Were there really upwards of thousands of pieces of mail that were unopened, some of them dating to March of 2008, as reported? We were told that's a fact. If it is, tell us. If it isn't, tell us we're wrong. Don't pretend that it doesn't exist.

Once you've told us that, how about telling us what you will do to those who you know are guilty? OK, I don't have to have names and photos. No “public floggings” for me either, Secretary Peake. But in something more concrete than what you've offered us so far, tell me how many employees will be privately flogged and what does the flogging consist of?

Let's cut to the chase and give me the real scoop on the number of "shredder" documents. Was it 1,000? 5,000? More? Are you contacting those individuals who were the owners of those documents or are you secretly trying to sneak them back into the folders where they should have been? If you don't tell us and you notify a veteran that you have their documents, he or she will, I promise that. If you are operating a clandestine effort to sneak them into their folders, it won't last.

How about you expedite the VAOIG report? Let's get that puppy out in front of the public ASAP. Once the VAOIG report is available, we'll all be able to compare notes on those dates and document numbers you've given so far.

Careful what you say, anything but the truth right now is going to make this terrible situation worse than it is. Wednesday, November 19, 2008, seems like it might be a good day to practice this new way of addressing our problems, doesn't it? There's motive, there's opportunity...perfect.

We’ll be watching the webcast of the “roundtable discussion” being held by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Don’t disappoint us. We'll be logged in here...

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posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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