Kirk Demands Answers, Accountability from Newly Confirmed Veterans Affairs Inspector General

Demands IG Take Independent, Aggressive Role in Protecting Whistleblowers and Rooting Out VA Corruption 

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) sent a letter to Michael Missal, the newly confirmed Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), demanding the IG take an independent and aggressive role in investigating the VA’s systemic culture of corruption and protecting whistleblowers who come forward to protect veterans. Senator Kirk also asked Missal to provide the outstanding materials the Senator has requested from the OIG over the last two years, including copies of OIG investigations at Hines VA that the U.S. Special Counsel (OSC) called “incomplete” and “inadequate.”

Additionally, Senator Kirk called on Missal to investigate allegations of cockroaches and other unsanitary conditions at the Edward Hines Jr., VA Hospital in Illinois.

As Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Senator Kirk continues to work closely with whistleblowers to uncover and address mistreatment of veterans at VA hospitals in Illinois and across the country.

In April, the Senate confirmed Missal to be the new inspector general for the VA.

The full text of the letter is copied below.

May 3, 2016

The Honorable Michael Missal
Inspector General
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C.  20420

Dear Mr. Missal,

In the last two years, I have seen nothing but the inability if the Office of the Inspector General (IG) to hold the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accountable to veterans.  In fact, my office has consistently been informed by whistleblowers within the VA that the IG has in no way acted as an independent investigatory agency, but rather as an arm of the VA, seeking not to investigate and uncover the truth of waste, fraud and abuse, but to collude with VA administrators to intimidate those who come forward and cover-up wrongdoing.  When questioning the VA and the OIG about these systemic problems, I have never been met with answers, only the repeated excuse that due to the lack of permanent leadership in the Office of the Inspector General, investigations were delayed, reports not completed, and answers left unattainable.  I trust that you, now the confirmed IG, will rectify these wrongs and lead the VA OIG as a truly independent and aggressive agent to give our veterans the protections and treatments they deserve.  

I hope you can bring integrity back into the VA OIG and hold the VA accountable when and if it fails to provide timely and decent care our veterans.  I also ask that you become a champion of whistleblowers who, despite threats of intimidation and retaliation, continue to stand up at the risk of financial and personal peril for mistreatments of our veterans.

That said, I ask you to provide me the following information:

1. The U. S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) sent a letter to the President dated February 25, 2016, detailing two whistleblower disclosures of violations of scheduling protocols at VA facilities.  On March 4, I asked both Secretary Robert McDonald and Deputy Inspector General Linda Halliday for copies of the complete OIG investigations referred to by the OSC and all supporting material related to the review of allegations made by the whistleblowers.  To date, I still have not received this information.  Can you provide me this information?

2. In response to the OSC letter to the President dated February 25, 2016, stating the VA OIG’s review was inadequate and failed to address the whistleblowers’ legitimate concerns, what corrective action do you plan to implement so future OIG reports are not incomplete, inadequate, and delayed? 

3. On May 21, 2014, I asked then-Acting Inspector General Richard Griffin to open an investigation into allegations of manipulated wait times at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in Chicago.  I also asked him to investigate all Illinois VA medical centers to ensure no Illinois veteran is being denied proper and timely care.  Can you provide me a copy of the completed OIG report?

4. It has recently come to my attention that the kitchen at the Hines VA Hospital in unsanitary and infested with cockroaches.  Apparently these deplorable conditions have been allowed to knowingly exist for years without remedy.  I ask you to open an investigation into the unsanitary conditions, including the infestation of bugs, at the Hines VA Hospital.  I also ask you to investigate Hines VA management’s efforts to retaliate against whistleblowers for coming forward with this information.  Enclosed is the letter I sent to Ms. Denise Deitzen, Network Director, VA Great Lakes Health Care System, Network Office, on April 21, 2016 with more information about this situation.

I look forward to receiving the material I have requested by May 16, 2016.  If you cannot provide this information by then, I expect a letter explaining why you cannot meet this deadline.  Our veterans deserve nothing but the best from us, it is time for the game of hide and seek to end.  

Sincerely,

Mark Kirk
United States Senator