{"id":29648,"date":"2019-06-25T15:37:22","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T15:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/25\/whistleblowers-testify-that-fear-retribution-are-still-widespread-at-va\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:21:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:21:04","slug":"whistleblowers-testify-that-fear-retribution-are-still-widespread-at-va","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2019\/06\/25\/whistleblowers-testify-that-fear-retribution-are-still-widespread-at-va\/","title":{"rendered":"Whistleblowers testify that fear, retribution are still widespread at VA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whistleblowers within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/05\/31\/with-major-changes-a-week-away-va-secretary-confident-his-department-is-ready\/\" target=_blank>Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> testified Tuesday that they still face hostile opposition from leadership despite public promises their concerns would be thoroughly investigated, and that a new office to oversee that work has proven largely ineffective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Department officials criticized the testimony as a one-sided attack on VA by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/31\/incoming-chairmans-top-goal-for-2019-building-up-va-not-outside-care-programs\/\" target=\"_blank\">House Democrats<\/a>, since they were not invited to participate. But members of the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee said the testimony raised <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/04\/11\/va-administrative-mistakes-caused-one-veteran-to-lose-his-foot\/\" target=\"_blank\">serious concerns<\/a> about systemic retaliation against employees who raise concerns about problems in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe can\u2019t allow employees who come forward with important information to be intimidated,\u201d said Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H. and chairman of the committee\u2019s oversight panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2018\/12\/18\/va-left-suicide-prevention-funding-unspent-report-finds\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VAM_SP-082-SPM-2017-Shareable-Partner-Graphics_1024x512-pf2.0-2-1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">VA left millions for suicide prevention unspent, report finds<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Millions of dollars set aside for suicide prevention outreach in fiscal 2019 went unused, and public awareness campaigns disappeared from national media.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuesday\u2019s testimony included emotional testimony from several VA employees who spoke of a culture of \u201cnot airing our dirty laundry\u201d and covering up problems within the department health care system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Katherine Mitchell, one of the physicians who brought to light wait-time problems at the Phoenix VA Health Care System in 2014, said she has been touted by the department as a \u201cwhistleblower success story\u201d but still faces aggression and retaliation for her role in highlighting those problems. That includes marginalizing her job opportunities, and local leadership undermining her standing with colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe retribution is vicious and disruptive to everyone,\u201d she said. \u201cAnyone with a reasonable mind would not speak up in this \u2026 malignant leadership culture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Minu Aghevli, the former coordinator for opioid treatment programs at the VA Maryland Health Care System, said her clinical privileges were revoked in April after she reported new concerns about several veterans care issues. For the last five years she has raised alarms about improper wait list practices in local hospitals, including falsifying data about veterans appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just a day before her testimony, VA officials informed her they would work to fire her from her post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI feel like I\u2019m being used as a threat against employees who may speak up about patient care concerns,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be a pawn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA officials under President Donald Trump have repeatedly promised to end all retaliation against whistleblowers, and set up with congressional backing a new Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection to better address those employees\u2019 concerns and prevent punishment for their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Jackie Garrick, founder of Whistleblowers of America, said the office \u201chas caused more of them more harm because it is plagued with deficiencies related to timeliness, unfair processes and inadequate staffing.\u201d Leaders at the Project on Government Oversight said they worry the office has become a central repository to track potentially problematic employees, instead of an investigative agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA staffers were not invited to testify at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, which Republican members of the panel lamented as providing an incomplete picture of the situation. Pappas said he plans to hold a hearing with those officials soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, in a letter to the committee Tuesday morning, said the decision to exclude the department from this hearing amounted to politicizing the event. Several of the cases featured at the hearing predate both his term in office and Trump\u2019s, and recent improvements were not covered in the testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/06\/19\/va-watchdog-accuses-leadership-of-withholding-access-to-employee-complaints\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17067064238464.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">VA watchdog accuses leadership of withholding access to employee complaints<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">In response, the acting VA secretary accused the inspector general of overstepping his authority and hurting the department&#039;s image.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen the committee holds a hearing to air criticisms of the department while simultaneously preventing the department from participating to offer context and defend itself, the committee\u2019s efforts risk appearing more like a political press conference than a hearing aimed at a balanced look at serious issues,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf this is how the committee intends to conduct oversight of the department in the future, an exclusionary approach could chip away at the committee\u2019s oft-stated goal of bipartisanship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Committee spokesman Miguel Salazar said the department\u2019s complaints are unfounded, and officials there have been hostile to any oversight work in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVA has refused to appear before our committee when called and answer poignant questions about how its practices are impacting veterans,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has continued to slow walk key document requests and provide inadequate witnesses for hearings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTheir concerns are misplaced and consistent with a department hell bent on picking and choosing how they will comply with this committee\u2019s mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, whistleblowers who testified at the hearing said they don\u2019t see the problems as a political issue, noting serious issues with retaliation stretching back into the previous presidential administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cReporting is asking to have your career killed and life threatened,\u201d Garrick said. \u201cThat\u2019s unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawmakers called the charges worrisome, but VA leaders say the complaints are ignoring recent improvements at the department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,106,31,33,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3294],"class_list":["post-29648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"JKS4QWSY5ZENNPKG3KW7VBUD5M","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/06\/25\/whistleblowers-testify-that-fear-retribution-are-still-widespread-at-va\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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