ADThe office’s “mission and authority were statutorily established to protect whistleblowers from retaliation and hold senior VA employees and supervisors accountable,” Missal, the inspector general, said in a statement. His successor, Kirk Nicholas, told investigators that some VA employees treat the whistleblower title as “a position description for them. At the time, Nicholas was in line to succeed O’Rourke as executive director of the whistleblower office and Shelby was still under investigation, the report says. The office “was how we were finally supposed to get it right for VA Whistleblowers and instead we are currently failing them.”The office has been under scrutiny by Congress for more than a year. “By politicizing and mismanaging whistleblower protection, they’ve done a disservice to our nation’s veterans and the dedicated VA employees who show up to serve them every day,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.)

Source: Washington Post October 24, 2019 16:49 UTC