Shinseki Says His Challenge is Transforming VA

Gen. Eric Shinseki is being heard today to be confirmed to head Veteran Affairs. Obama's picks are now going through senate confirmation hearings.
Schedule.
Others being heard today include Tom Vilsack, agriculture, and Lisa Jackson, environmental protection agency. 

With his own about to begin, General Shinseki told his confirmation hearing to be head of the Department of Veterans Affairs how he will be dealing with some of the costliest aftermath of a war that he famously predicted, just before the curtain fell on his first act, would bog down hundreds of thousands of troops for years. With the invasion of Iraq looming, his Pentagon bosses rebuked him for saying that, and he retired a few months later as Army Chief of Staff.

So there was great anticipation Wednesday for what would be the general’s longest public discussion in more than five years.

In written answers provided to committee members in advance of the hearing, General Shinseki said his priorities would be post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries suffered by troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as finding jobs for vets, examining and dealing with the problem of homeless vets, and helping all wounded vets make the difficult transition from military health care to VA facilities.

In his written answers to committee members, the general said his that the “over-arching challenge that the VA faces is its own transformation into a 21st century organization.” It was an echo of the transformation theme that dominated his time as the Army’s top general. Read more atNYT

Obama Will Reverse Priority 8 for Veterans

speaking to a crowd of vets in new mexico, here is some of what obama said during the question and answer period:
"one of the best ways to honor the fallen soldiers is to honor the ones who came back, who survived."
obama will reverse priority 8 (vets that have incomes that exceed the threshhold, which is between $30-35,000 nationwide, who don't get healthcare) so all vets have access to healthcare. bush reduced the number of vets able to get healthcare to save money. i'll add here that on that income, you can't afford healthcare. what was george bush thinking? with all the money being spent on the war in iraq, it probably didn't make the budget.
obama said he will work to get veterans facilities just for women.
he will work for better veteran's administration clinics and more efficient ones by putting in an electronic system.
he will screen every vet for post traumatic stress disorder.
he will completely revamp the small business administration. he called it a "sleepy bureacracy." there's not enough outreach in general or to vets. he wants to provide more opportunities for vets, as well as more access to capital.

a questioner asked what he thought about blackwater, a private company that provides security in iraq. obama says he's not a believer in private contractors doing this job. he won't be able to pull contractors out right away. first he'll need to build up ground security forces.

a questioner said: tell us about your grandfather and how it affected you.
obama said that like a lot of veterans of wwII, his grandfather didn't like talking about it. part of the reason is they suffered in silence. the concept of post traumatic stress disorder wasn't known then. vets sometimes resort to alcohol or drugs, which explains why so many vets are homeless. he says there are 200,000 homeless vets.
obama said he had an uncle who went to liberate auschwitz. when he came home, he went into the attic and didn't come out. they didn't have facilities to help them work through that kind of pain.

obama said part of our security is our economy. that's what bush doesn't understand. if our economy isn't strong, then we will have a weak military. there's never been a nation on earth that saw its economy decline and maintained a strong military.

a questioner asks about foreign language training: we've got to train today's troops for today's wars. it's unlikely that we have the same kind of traditional wars in wwII. most of our wars will be like the battles in afghanistan. more emphasis will be on peace keeping, conflict resolution and nation building. that training has to include foreign language training.

when obama visited iraq, he asked about translators. they said they didn't have enough for every platoon. they rely on local translators. if we're going to ask our military to train local police officers, they should have some expertise in that.

he also called for a stronger, non military, civilian security operation. we're asking our military to do everything -- teachers, social workers, engineers. that's not what they're trained to do.

we need troops on the ground in afghanistan but we also need people to teach them to grow something other than poppy.

obama's remarks prior to the q&a

Obama Calls For Veteran Affairs Investigation

obama demands an investigation of a possible cover up at a texas veteran affairs office.
from obama's senate site:
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today sent the following letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake, calling on him to investigate reports that a psychologist at a Texas Veterans Affairs (VA) facility told staff members to refrain from diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in order to reduce costs. According to today's Washington Post, the psychologist, Ms. Norma Perez, apparently emailed Teague Center staff members suggesting the alternative diagnosis to limit the number of tests required to diagnose PTSD. Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, thousands of service members have returned home suffering from combat-related psychological injuries like PTSD, which require much-needed treatment.

In the letter, Obama calls on Peake to launch an investigation into the incident to evaluate whether Perez was advised to send this e-mail or give this instruction at the urging of her superiors; whether staff members at the Teague Center followed Perez's advice, and if so, how many veterans were affected by incorrect diagnoses; whether officials at other veterans centers have given some similar admonitions to staff members charged with diagnosing PTSD; whether affected veterans have been given immediate re-diagnoses and; whether this is an incident or a trend through the VA system.

Obama also wrote today to Veterans Affairs' Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka requesting a hearing to examine this matter.

The text of the letter is below:

Dear Secretary Peake:

I am writing to express my serious concerns about reports that a psychologist at a Texas Veterans Affairs (VA) facility told staff members to refrain from diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to today's Washington Post, Norma Perez, a psychologist at the Department of Veterans Affairs' Olin E. Teague Veterans' Center in Temple, Texas, sent an email to other staffers saying: "Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out." She then suggested the alternative diagnosis of "Adjustment Disorder," adding that VA staff members "really don't . . . have time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD."

Simply put, Ms. Perez's email is outrageous. As you well know, PTSD is the most prevalent mental disorder afflicting our returning Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veterans. In order to receive their deserved benefits, these brave men and women must endure a long and arduous process. To hear that a VA official is promoting misdiagnoses of soldiers to save money is unacceptable and is tantamount to fraud.

You have said that Ms. Perez's email is "inappropriate," but more must be done. I call on the Department to open an investigation into the following:

1) Whether Ms. Perez was advised to send this e-mail or give this instruction at the urging of her superiors at the Teague Center.

2) Whether staff members at the Teague Center followed Ms. Perez's advice, and if so, how many veterans were affected by incorrect diagnoses.

3) Whether officials at other veterans centers have given some similar admonitions to staff members charged with diagnosing PTSD.

4) Whether this is an incident or a trend. I understand that the VA keeps detailed information on the number of diagnoses of PTSD and adjustment disorder. Your investigation must look at changes in the number of both diagnoses over time, both system-wide and on a facility-by-facility basis.

5) What is being done to ensure that any veterans affected by this instruction do not fall through the cracks. All veterans given an incorrect diagnosis should be given redress both in their diagnoses and their subsequent disability benefits.

6) Whether there are any trends among veterans who have committed suicide recently to determine whether any were wrongly diagnosed with adjustment disorder. Your investigation should include a survey of root cause analyses of recent veteran suicides.

7) Whether there are other instances across the VA bureaucracy of veterans with legitimate cases of PTSD being swept under the rug for budgetary reasons or for expediency. Why, for instance is the number of approved benefits claims for PTSD at the Veterans Benefits Administration decreasing at a time when diagnoses for PTSD at the Veterans Health Administration are increasing?


Too many veterans see the VA as a bureaucracy with the singular goal of denying services and benefits to veterans. This recent incident merely serves to promote that impression. I request that you advise me by no later than Friday, May 23, 2008, as to whether you will open such investigation.

Thank you.


Sincerely,

Barack Obama
United States Senator