Like Rats Fleeing The Titanic, More VA Executives Jump Ship This Week

VA Executives

Benjamin KrauseIn what must be a new record, three VA executives announced they were stepping down this week. TIME Magazine reported that the most recent decisions were, “aimed at accelerating Veterans’ access to quality health care and rebuilding the trust of America’s Veterans.”

Veterans Affairs has been put into a state of reboot after CNN broke the story on the VA wait list scandal in April. Since then, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned as did Dr. Robert Petzel, head of VA Health Care. VA OIG is investigating criminal allegations across the country related to the manipulation of appointment times for veterans. The FBI is reportedly involved. Now, three more VA executives are ending their careers at VA to build “trust” with America’s veterans.

On Monday, Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs Joan Mooney suddenly retired – though she does not seem old enough to have retired, at around 50 years old, and it smells a lot like a resignation. Previously, Congress hammered Joan Mooney over her refusal to answer straightforward questions about VA’s lies during wait list scandal Congressional hearings. Mooney is credited as being behind the obstruction of Congress’s access to VA wait list data.

By Thursday, two more VA executives announced they were stepping down effective almost immediately. Will Gunn, head of VA’s General Counsel, will resign effective July 3. Will Gunn was credited with redefining the wait list files as “interim work product” to justify their illegal destruction. Dr. Robert Brown, current Acting Under Secretary of Health, will resign effective July 2.

Florida Republican Rep. Jeff Miller, who chairs the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, commented:

“The only way today’s VA personnel actions can be viewed as positive developments is if the department fills the vacancies with leaders who put veterans first—not the VA bureaucracy—focus on solving problems instead of downplaying or hiding them, and understand that taxpayer funded organizations such as VA have a responsibility to provide information to Congress and the public rather than stonewalling them.”

Former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki used to compare changing course within VA to turning a ship in the Chesapeake Bay. Perhaps the ship he was talking about was the Titanic, and like all good rats, these VA executives are hitting the road to K Street just before the VA sinks to the bottom.

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Voc Rehab Survival GuideBenjamin Krause is an award winning investigative reporter, Veterans Benefits Law attorney, and disabled veteran of the US Air Force, where he served in its Special Operations Command. He attended Northwestern University and  the University of Minnesota Law School using VA Vocational Rehabilitation.

While in law school, Benjamin won his decade-long fight for full disability benefits and now helps others do the same with this website and his guide, the Voc Rehab Survival Guide for Veterans. Since its first publication in 2011, the guide has helped the veteran community receive millions in untapped benefits through the VA Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment program. 

Connect with Benjamin on  Google+,  Twitter,  Facebook and LinkedIn.

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21 Comments

  1. RATS FROM VA HELL WILL STILL GET ALL THEIR BENNIS THE VADC HQ RATS DONT GIVE A RATS REAR ABOUT VETS WKATE UP VETS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. THE SEWAGE RATS ARE JUMPING ASAP THE VA IS THE TITANIC ITS GOING DOWN ASAP WHATE A WASTE BILLIONS $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ OF TAX PAYER $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  3. Also, in my above “rant” about DHS and Carona I say …”trying to start”, instead of trying to “stop”. my ptsd tbi dyslexia. sorry. And, Doug, thanks again for pulling back in your attack on me. A wise judge is able to change their mind. I am not the enemy. Psychos with guns, badges and those who hide behind the flag in the name of Homeland Security are the enemy within as they perform false flag ops on us all in gestapo style when they achieve their positions of absolute power the corrupts absolutely.

  4. I have a typo above in my “rant” about DHS. After I say Homeland Security Advisor was went to prison I say … he is “not” in prison. I mean to say he is “now: in prison. And, Doug, if you have decided to be quiet after making such wild accusations against me that I or anyone is paranoid for citing aspects of a wildly convoluted VA conspiracy, thank you for being quiet. Watch and learn.

    1. No, I you just haven’t come up with anything worth my time to respond. That’s all. Plus, I don’t like wasting my time on people. like you. 🙂 your not worth it. All you come back with is name calling and hateful rhetoric. The only person in this forum who backs what he says is Ben Krause and evey once in a while some else does too. But as far as your comments. All I hear is hate and b.s. You say watch the news but you only regurgitate what they say. A third grader can do that. Which in most cases the news has it correct. But not all the time. You went on a spatting about this and that in your first post. But you Haven’t provided any proof or facts to back it. It sounded like it was more of your option then fact. If all your going to do is spit out hate and unchecked facts. It’s best just to keep your mouth shut. So you don’t look like and sound like the village idiot.
      To answer some questions that I was asked.
      No I do not work for the VA. I only go there for treatment. I been going there for 10 yrs now. I was in the Army I did 2 tours in Iraq and 2 tours in Afghanistan. I also did a tour in Desert Storm and in Mogadishu. During my last tour in Iraq my vehicle hit an IED. And I’ve been in and out of recovers since. Non of that has anything to do with what I think or feel. So that’s that and I wish you a goodnight.

  5. My “paranoid rant” here as commenter/reply person, Doug would call it, is exactly like the “paranoid rants” I used while exposing one of the most corrupt men in America who was heavily involved in a wider conspiracy that involves grave exploitation of disabled veterans by the government. I went to war against the Homeland Security Director of the Western US, Mike Carona, who was in that position while he was elected Sheriff of Orange County California. Carona is now in federal prison after he retaliated against me and others who exposed him for what he is. He was heavily involved in the mafia according to FBI investigations which I reported to them after Carona himself bragged about being in the mafia WHILE he was DHS Advisor under President Bush who was instrumental into canning his ass. That whole thing is so complicated that Doug would probably call it alien technology paranoid delusions from Atlantis, because Doug is simple minded. But, you can’t refute the facts, and Doug did ask for facts. Carona worked with the VA, and through DHS, to personally destroy me, but I made it through the hell he put me through. He did so because he knows I am a seriously disabled veteran, physically and due to 100% service-connected PTSD from the worst war stress anyone could every imagine. He played the VA like a fiddle to ruin me, and they gladly helped him because they are one of the most corrupt medical and administrative organizations the world has ever seen. Do some research on Mike Carona, who was being groomed to be Governor of California, to be followed by POTUS, but is not in federal prison where he richly deserves to be, if you think I am paranoid. You will find that he gave department guns and badges to mafia crime bosses at pubic ceremonies, posed for pictures with mafia crime bosses in Newport Beach, California, took bribes on a regular basis, misappropriated funds by the millions, etc., etc. He is either criminally insane or at the very least a criminal sociopath. He traveled to the Soviet Union, posed for photos of himself with nude prostitutes who were wearing parts of his uniform, he sold secrets to foreign powers, he was stopped by Scotland Yard when they learned (from me and others) that he was trying to infiltrate INTERPOL and them. I know it sounds crazy, but google this shit, it is all true. The story as to what is going on at the VA is related to this, and far too complicated to go into here. It sounds bizarre, because it is bizarre. Conspiracies often work, in organized crime, in government corruption, involving millions and billions of dollars of stolen assets and budgets, because they are in fact quite complicated. Some people are able to see through this kind of shit because they are right in the middle of it trying to start part or all of it, but it is always at great cost to them. By the way, when Carona was being shipped off to Littleton Federal Prison in Colorado, over 100 of his mafia crime boss pals who had infilitrated every level of business, industry and government in America and around the world, in every crime you can think of, were being rounded up and were later shipped off to prison with him. I worked on that bizarre case for years, fighting Carona and his literal fucking army mostly by myself, guiding the FBI and other entities to bring his and his associates asses down. The VA scandal is just as big, in fact an offshoot of Carona’s shit, and even more diabolical. So, Doug, please do a little research, and YOU check the facts. Or just shut the hell up and stop advocating for these worthless traitors working for and with the VA. They will sell your ass down the river for $10 if they get the chance, so you might take that in mind and realize that I am not your enemy, they are.

  6. Doug, so I guess CNN is full of shit to call the VA scandal a conspiracy, like they did again this week. If anyone is full of shit, you are. Paranoia only exists when there is no conspiracy. The opposite of paranoia is gullible. You are either gullible or a hack for the VA, or a brown noser.

  7. Denise, i am sorry to hear you have been through so much, with the VA and elsewhere. I know it is police state and marshal law to use the National Guard, but they would be in civilian clothes, or possibly in uniform, just like they do for floods and other disasters. The difference is they would be their specifically for the vets, and not against them as they or other government and military units have been misused in the past. The pepper spray thing is ridiculous. If you had of been assaulted on VA grounds or anywhere after you were told to get rid of it the VA would have been liable for a huge torts (injury) claim. It is not a weapon, it is a self-defense implement that is sold over the counter. The VA is full of it when they do stuff like that. You will notice that they are doing somewhat better in some respects after Shinseki and ongoing removals of executive leadership has been made. We need to get Gibson out ASAP as he is a clone or Shinseki. He will be gone soon enough. Take care of yourself and don’t expect too much too soon from the VA. I have talked a few times by phone with Lauren Price and by email at veteranwarriors1.org who I bet would love to talk to you. I can tell that you have been heavily truamatized from car accidents and other things that happened to you and others in the military. Lauren was a convoy driver in Iraq along with her husband who was a convoy leader. They are very kick ass, take no prisoners, and they take no guff from the VA. Lauren is very aggressive in helping vets if she can. She is on facebook and has a website that I think you will enjoy. Again, take care and God bless you. Semper Fi, Bruce

  8. I’m just hearing a lot of paranoid conspirancy theorist wacko mumbo jumbo. Who believe that there is some secret robot government program that by design is only good at killing all vets. The VA does have some major issues that needs to be addressed. We can talk about that. But just stop pulling shit out of your ass. And Putting it out there like its fact. But guess what? It stills smells like your paranoia shit. Shit is shit no matter how you try and make it smell. If your just going to throw stories out there with no fact based evidence. Throw it in your back yard not mine. Because I don’t like my yard smelling and filling up with your fact less shit. Thank you very much.

    1. Doug you got a lot to learn you must like sitting in it because its warm huh at least others are speaking up and not sitting in their s***

      1. Bill, pay no attention to this VA lap doug, err, dog. This is standard VA tactic – to label everything spoken or written against the VA as “conspiracy theory”.

    2. Bill, and Steamwhistler, thanks for exposing Doug for the hack that he is. My guess is he works for the VA, and is not even a veteran. Doug, are you a veteran? And, if so, of what branch, war-time, peace-time, MOS, PTSD, what? If you have PTSD, a head injury, or some serious injury then we can excuse your attacks on me and others that you suggest are paranoid for speaking against the ELABORATE CONSPIRACIES that are IN FACT GOING ON AT THE VA. No, my all-caps are not to yell at you, they are to get your attention. Maybe you think CCN’s chief anchor, Shepherd Smith and the investigative reporters at CNN are paranoid to when they flat out call the VA scandal a “gigantic conspiracy”. Shitneski was calling vets and whistleblowers and reporters paranoid until they day he got fired, as is Gibson his clone replacement. Unless you have a dog in this fight and for good reason can explain yourself in calling me paranoid, because your reply is clearly in response to what I said is going on at the VA, I am going to ask Ben, as I am doing here right now, to ask you to cease and desist from advocating for the VA on a pro-vet website. I myself have gotten quite aggressive on this site in the past, outright demanding that anyone and everyone that says anything here, get their act together and hold the VA’s feet to the fire on their bizarre ongoing conspiracy. I was asked to keep it down, by Ben, and I have. But I don’t think he or anyone is going to tell me that when you call me or anyone who is supposedly “paranoid” about what is really going on at the VA, that I have done anything wrong. Doug, you are either a plant for the VA or a traitor, or a busybody with no real business making comments here period. Say LOL one more time and I will run up my credit cards some more to legally find out who you actually are and why in the hell you are attacking me and other disabled vets on a DISABLED VETS website. If anyone is full of shit on this, you are Doug, unless, in the small chance as I stated above, that you have a serious disability from the military that is causing you to malfunction against other vets here. My impression is that you have copied Acting VA Secretary Gibson who said “It is a bunch of CRAP to say bonuses should not be paid and people should not be fired or jailed.” You said “shit”, like he said “crap”, so you are either his admirer, or you are his associate. My guess is you have no service-connected disabilities and that you are not even a vet. For sure, you need to explain yourself and tell us why you should be able to call disabled vets paranoid for speaking the truth and reporting detailed facts of the ongoing investigations. In the meantime, don’t infer that what I say is paranoid or shit, or I will even look into suing you. If it turns out you work for the VA you can start looking for a new job, and no one can prevent that from happening considering how you would have misrepresented yourself. One chance in billion that you are Gibson himself, that would not even save your job. So, put up or shut up, or have a damn good explanation for what you have said. This site is FOR vets. It is not a venue to harm us diabled vets, many of which cannot defend themselves at all, which includes me much of the time.

  9. In less than a week from now you will understand why some are already calling the VA cash bonus system a mass Murder for Hire scheme. Like our vets really deserve that!

  10. They are leaving for one reason only: to try to avoid criminal charges. It won’t work. They will be arrested, charged, tried by a jury of their peers (veterans!), and sent to prison. Some may even face the death penalty when the whole story comes out. There are several groups forming throughout the VA, comprised of VA whistleblowers still on the job or fired from their jobs, that are being advised by lawyers all across America. Private Investigators in conjunction with these law firms, and other interested investigative parties including Congressional staff members, FBI informants, and all sorts of other persons, are literally walking into every type of VA facility and office, including Acting Director Gibson’s office in Washington, DC. The VA at all levels is being watched, recorded, video-taped, along with phone taps, computer monitoring, and even following these criminals around the country. Some of them have quietly left the country, others are in hiding trying to decide what to do. What they need to do is contact law enforcement who will refer them to the FBI. A significant percentage of these criminal conspirators will do so, and be forthright, and tell everything they have done and personally witnessed. Personal laptops and smartphones have already been turned over and others confiscated. The only ones at the VA, no matter how high or high low (including Gibson), that will not face prison and ruin of their careers will be those who have turned themselves in by now, while reporting on others, handing over any and all evidence they have access to. Others who have not sought whistleblower status or pre-arrest confession have about 10 days from now. The FBI is planning on taking several months then do a massive arrest sweep, so if you work for the VA or with the VA in any capacity your time is running out. How do I know this? Gibson has been advised by Shinseki who is now acting as a high paid VA consultant, to take the opposite approach that he did. “Be aggressive, say things like, ‘That’s a bunch of crap’, put up a strong fight or you will be out here with me.” Sorry, that will not work. Gibson will be gone soon, he is not going to back down on anything, he is only going to get worse, he is directly behind and in charge of the ongoing cover-up of wrongful criminal deaths being computer corrected to make like those vets are still alive. A big key to all of this is the over 400 deaths that were reported about a month ago, that were downplayed by the VA. CNN has verified over 50 deaths as of last report about 3 days ago, and they are working on a few hundred more suspicious deaths right now. The real number is more like ten times 400, or 4,000 in total bad care, delayed care, secret wait list, and virtual homicide/murder. Past associates and relatives from federal law enforcement have provided some of this information, along with mainstream media, and other sources. Watch as this all continues to unfold. If you work for or with the VA, or have in the past 5 years, you better run to your nearest police station who will put you in touch with the FBI investigative team. There is a limit to how much any lawyer or union can protect you, and you are past that limit if you have not turned yourself and others in if you know ANYTHING about any of this ongoing VA criminal conspiracy.

  11. IF ONLY THE “RESIGN RULE” THERE WOULD BE NOWORKED FOR [email protected] “REGULAR” JOES or JANES, WE COULD JUST QUIT AND WAIT FOR OUR CHECKS. THERE WOULD BE NO “RED” TAPE, WAITING PERIODS, ETC, WE JUST GO TO THE HOUSE AND START COLLECTING COMPENSATION.
    WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY, BUT SOME OF US ARE STUCK IN THE PAST AND REFUSE TO GET ON BOARD. “CHANGE IS HARD WHEN IT COSTS OR TAKES A LITTLE “SACRIFICE”, SOMETHING WE AS VETS KNOW ALL TOO WELL.

  12. Idea on how to correct the VA Executive Leadership problem: Call out medical units from the National Guard from each state to replace all state Regional Directors, AND also replace Acting Director Gibson and all of the Assistant Secretaries with the National Guard as well. This is a 50 state/National Emergency that gravely endangers the US Military’s Total Force Defense Policy. This solution will eliminate all paid bonuses permanently, and end the rest of the cronyism throughout all of the VA.

    1. Bruce, although that could be one thought of the issue and how we can deal with it, remember Ben had just showed a scenario that had that attempt of showing a force of power and acting as a “Police State?” My concern is realistic when you suggest something of that nature, which is a “Marshall Law” type mentality. You have to keep in mind that their are Veterans who go there for PTSD/MST events. ( even though they do nothing that is what they say it is like CBT Therapy). My friend wanted me to see a woman who was military and was asking anyone if they had any ideas, advice, or have been through it. They had her on a 17 month long wait list, which really outrageous for anyone who has gone through what she has. She had 3 guys who decided her job in the service was “to service them.” Now understand, those who have had an MST EVENT WILL ALSO HAVE TRAITS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A PTSD TYPE TICKING CLOCK THAT CAN GO OFF AT ANYTIME. I wrote her and told her, “they stated 12 weeks of one on one therapy.” I said if they only will allow 12 weeks understand this, “there is no standard time frame for therapy, you may need less you may need more, whatever you need watch out for you and speak up.” She did go to her first appointment, and thankfully they let her know 12 weeks was just a “baseline” of what maybe needed, she now understands she will need a longer period than 12 weeks. I know for myself who carries a small canister of pepper spray, it was written up in my record from that dip-shit for brains social worker that she called and asked the VA police if it is considered a weapon, it was so I was advised to remove it, I did, and inside my purse it went.
      Bruce, you are a man, so you will think like one call it an emergency and the “show of force of uniforms” can set a person into a panic attack, a freeze can’t move type thinking because of what has occurred or even “hopefully not,” go after a man in a uniform “that show of force” and beat the holy crap out of him because it was a man who wore a uniform that raped you.
      I will give you my own example, in 2013 I was back in school, we were to do the homeless count for the Dallas area, it was still cold out, and I am a human barometer with or without the metal I am filled with. So I helped by doing Data entry. I left the second day, I hate Dallas, because every damn street changes 500 yards or less, which has made many individuals go nuts when their GPS seems to go crazy. We are civilians, we do not have access to a Military GPS style on our smart phones, so naturally, I got lost, I saw the red light too late, my beloved ( but hated by my son and he called it a looser) I was T-Boned on the driver side. This was not a high speed impact, which gee, another error found by the morons for doctors, or is it just moronic Doctors, had written it was. None the less I do it right when I have my first accident with a car, it was a jackass police officer. “Why must they walk as if they own the world? Big Ego issue or ? ” now, as I have taught my own, be respectful to your elders, but remember respect is “earned and not a given,” I had my drivers ID, my insurance paperwork, this jackass is worried about rental car insurance that we do not have to provide, and I was on my phone giving my partner my location, he was concerned because I have had three back surgeries, ( which FYI has declined since and the VA in a Dallas has played games as well as Fort Worth, but it’s recorded, I make them leave me a message—>has a brain knows the game, spotted right off the bat first go!) if we believe rules are meant to be followed, then why do rules get broken? I guess I happened to be the spectator sport that day, a woman in her 50’s what a huge threat, was there a need for 6 more cops? As I have stated, “the brain and mind are a fascinating topic, and the U of M has proved such,” but the brain will also take away for some, especially in my case of two events months apart, it locked it up and shut that door tight. Now, when I see all these men in uniform gather around, what do you think was allowed to open? We are talking about a prisoner because the mind gave out signals of acting like one. And I go to this screwed up VA who needs to not just get rid of the top but doctors, people that are gatekeepers “nurses” who keep delaying you for treatment. And they have which now I can hardly stand 2 minutes in a car. I ditched their idea of CBT Therapy that was described as new-wrong answer idiots, it ain’t that new! And I have no idea why they make appointments for me when I made it clear I shall seek another way. But back to the “Uniforms,” when I was the spectator sport, something triggered off in my mind that was a harsh reality of events that at the time were 32 years old. I respect police officers that I have been friends with, same thing when you do wrong “OWN IT.” But I will not respect a group of jackasses that think they must speak in some harsh manner because they have a “uniform and a badge.” In fact, they should be the “example and not the law makers as they so seem fit to do in Dallas-words from one I knew who was a cadet there and stated to report it, but I let it go because 4 days later my uncle passed and a trip to California. She had stated, “that she, with a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Science would never ever consider working for them. In fact, as she did check cities out, she preferred Los Angeles.” I stated, “well you know, they have some issues too.”
      I can’t understand since “tail hook” why have no improvements in the military, why is it allowed period to be something that these individuals in the Pentagon, The house, congress and the POTUS, have chosen to ignore more policies and serious consequences enforced? I guess it is just like the Dallas PD, “DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO!”
      I think if you wish to see change, take veterans, put them into positions, no damn bonuses and inspections that are done whenever it is not to be inspected. Hell, my partner would be good at that, he has that “listens to the facts and picks up certain words that are vital words,” now me? I was and always will be, Medical. The only difference is the modernization of equipment, ( but I wonder if someone felt the need to get a well deserved bonus) and I know I would kick ass, I had a name, I shall not say, but I am one that plays by rules, and if I caught a doctor or nurse who lied? I would have them escorted off the property. Just like the idiot that stated he had no idea I had a fusion because there was no proof, well two things, huge scar on my back and in the front oh, and that x-ray where I was told “there ain’t nothing wrong with you,” as the owner of the quiet ER was saying some pretty rude things-as stated, never assume anything, it doesn’t made me the ass, but you. As she went to her notes and stated I did not wait for results that showed abnormal. But my twenty minutes and a shot, that just kills me, pain 10-4 in oh about 15 minutes, impossible, and others who know me well, it seems to like to “hang around 5,” who knew pain had a favorite number? No, I sincerely think honest veterans can do better. Yes, we have sour grapes, but they can be tossed just as quickly. I don’t play their type of games, I am a gentle but harsh when it comes to following protocol, and if you can’t do that see ya!

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