More Evidence Jim Nicholson, Va Chief, Should Be Fired!

[Gimpy]

VA chief come under fire for data security lapses


The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) 02/28/07 ? Veterans Affairs officials came under heavy criticism on Capitol Hill Wednesday after auditors reported that the agency, stung by massive data breaches, mostly recently in Alabama, still has gaping holes in its information security procedures.


VA Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield also acknowledged that hudreds of thousands of medical providers whose data may have been compromised last month at a VA center in Birmingham, Ala., still have not been notified of their potential risk.


The House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on oversight held a hearing on the issue Wednesday.


VA Secretary Jim Nicholson has been a target of congressional criticism in the past year over a series of computer security failures that put sensitive personal information for millions of veterans at risk.


In the latest incident, a backup hard drive containing data such as Social Security numbers for up to 1.8 million veterans and physicians was reported missing Jan. 22 from a research site in Birmingham.

That disclosure followed the theft last spring of data on 26.5 million veterans from a VA employee's home in Maryland.

-------END--------

[Gimpy]

to see this..................

[Gimpy]

NEW FOCUS ON VETERANS' CHIEF AS INQUIRIES ON CARE BEGIN -- Jim Nicholson's caught in the spotlight. Or is it the headlights?

Focus on Veterans? Chief as Inquiries on Care Begin
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON


WASHINGTON, March 6 ? As President Bush ordered an investigation of the military?s care of wounded soldiers and veterans last week, Jim Nicholson, secretary of veterans affairs, darted between events, seeking to put a positive public face on his beleaguered agency.


In Chicago on Friday, Mr. Nicholson spoke to a group of Navy boot camp graduates, toured the North Chicago V.A. Medical Center, and visited a private trauma clinic to gather ideas on providing special care for injuries like brain trauma.


?If there is even one injured veteran that falls through the cracks then that is too many,? he said in a telephone interview at the end of the day. ?It pains me to hear about problems in our system, but I am a competitor, and I am finding that it is strengthening my resolve and deepening my commitment.?


In the wake of the shake-up last week in the Defense Department medical system ? which included the firing of the two-star general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the resignation of Francis J. Harvey as secretary of the Army ? the Department of Veterans Affairs is facing intense political and public scrutiny. The agency operates the country?s largest health care system, serving more than 5.5 million veterans a year.


On Monday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform conducted a hearing at Walter Reed on the problems there, and the Senate Armed Services Committee has set a hearing for Tuesday. Mr. Nicholson?s agency is also likely to come under scrutiny at the hearings.


?I welcome Congressional oversight, and the oversight of the president and the commission he is forming,? Mr. Nicholson said. ?I welcome them looking at us and taking a measure of how we are doing, so we can improve any deficiencies that are found.?


Mr. Nicholson, 69, a Vietnam War veteran and past chairman of the Republican National Committee, was appointed by Mr. Bush to lead the department in 2005.


He has been accused by some veterans and the organizations that represent them of being primarily a mouthpiece for the Bush administration and of being slow to respond to increasing strains on his agency as returning soldiers move from facilities like Walter Reed, which is run by the Defense Department, into the veterans affairs system.


Critics say he has under-emphasized his agency?s budget needs to Congress, has not responded to calls for more mental health workers and brain trauma specialists and has failed to overhaul disability claims procedures. Some leaders of veterans groups say Mr. Nicholson is less communicative than his predecessors.

?We?re supposed to be partners, but there is no free flow of information since he took over,? said Bill Bradshaw, director of National Veterans Service for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. ?We often learn about changes after they are done, and there is little consultation.?


Mr. Nicholson says his agency is making changes. It is putting procedures in place to screen all veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan for signs of brain trauma and the agency is also researching how to shorten the claims process, he said.


Mr. Nicholson was viewed skeptically by some in Washington when he was elected in 1997 to succeed Haley Barbour as Republican Party chairman. But he eventually won respect, even praise, as a skilled fund-raiser and a tough, credible leader. Mr. Bush appointed him ambassador to the Vatican in 2001.


Through his varied careers, Mr. Nicholson has never run anything even close to the size of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which operates 155 medical centers and roughly 900 outpatient clinics. With a staff of 235,000, it is the second-largest government agency behind the Defense Department.

His detractors, including some leaders of veterans groups, say Mr. Nicholson has a far less cooperative relationship with their groups than his predecessors had. Some say he is more attentive to his bosses in the administration than the veterans he serves and that he lacks deep experience in veterans affairs.


?Mr. Nicholson is purely a political appointee who comes from a background of no involvement in veterans issues ,? said David W. Gorman, executive director of Disabled American Veterans. ?He very much wants to do what he believes is the right thing to do, but not knowing the system as one needs to, he is at a distinct disadvantage.?


More serious than complaints about Mr. Nicholson?s style are charges that he has not sufficiently addressed efficiency and preparedness. Linda J. Bilmes, a professor of public finance at Harvard, recently completed a study of the long-term costs of providing medical care and benefits to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs, she said, ?is overwhelmed in every area.?

-------END--------

[Packo]

More great news.......when is a real Veterans Advocate ever going to become the Secretary of Veterans Affairs???? Well, if I was president.....think I'd put my dear Southern Brother in. Man would some tail feathers fly!

Pack

[Gimpy]

Packo old buddy, but I got enuff trouble just keeping up with my OWN physical and emotional disabilities!

I sure as hell wouldn't mind 'kickin some of them tail-feathers' out of a few of those idiotic beaurocrats asses for a few days though!

My personal choice for that job postion would be former Georgia senator (a home-boy) and former VA chief Max Clelland.

[Packo]

Max did a wonderful job when he was running things. We got more stuff in the Vet Center Program than from anyone else. The guy during the Reagan years, I forget his name, wanted to close down the Vet Centers or move them into the hospitals, which would have killed the program. No, don't think your Blood Pressure could handle what you'd be up against from entrenched VA Directors, etc. and would probably kill you. But most of those assholes know that Secretaries are time limited and just basically do enough to get by until the next administration gets in. My true feelings are, this will never change.

Pack

[Boats]

It's like a coin flip or like a surprise found in the Cracker Jack box you never know what you're going to get. Ideals are quickly slapped out of your hand by the system needs of the moment. Not many considered the ramifications of another conflict and the repercussions of those who may injured or killed.

There are no more 24 hour wars - these conflicts have been learned by watching others. Procrastinated fighting and non-uniformed enemies make fighting a war pure frustration and it cost our troop dearly. The enemy has learned this and is using this against us every chance it can. We've got to really ugly and get into the trenches with them - but the moral aspects always come into play.

The media damn's us which ever way we go. Our personnel fighting these conflicts has got be going nuts trying to find a way to beat these guys at their own game and not be crucified during the process. Much has change in the way a conflict is fought - we will have to either adapt to this or not get involved.

As for Packman's nomination I second that - so now Gimpy you are confirmed. The chair is your's to command. Institute the changes and make the revisions that will take care or our kids. If it were just that easy -

Nice report Gimpy

[Gimpy]

But, I'll have to respectfully decline your nomination for the same reasons I explained to Mah Deah Suthern Brother, J.E.B. Packo!

I stil believe that Max Clelland is the man for this job.

[Gimpy]

to the top...................